


In My Mind's Eye

by Providence7979



Series: A New World [1]
Category: Terminator (Movies), Terminator: Dark Fate
Genre: Angst, Day 8: Bonus Day, Drace Week 2020, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:33:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 25,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27205970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Providence7979/pseuds/Providence7979
Summary: Drace Week 2020Day 8: Bonus Day/Free DayA first person retelling of the events of Terminator Dark Fate from Grace’s point of view.From the first (deleted) scene where Grace asks Commander Ramos to let her go back in time, to the final battle scene at the turbine room of the dam, and all of the scenes in-between.
Relationships: Grace Harper & Dani Ramos, Grace Harper/Dani Ramos
Series: A New World [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1986139
Comments: 16
Kudos: 37
Collections: Drace Week 2020





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This has been percolating in the back of my head since early in the year when I initially wrote Dani’s journal entries in my first story Grace’s Sacrifice. In that story we got to see some of the events of TDF through Dani’s eyes. But after I’d finished, I really wanted to explore what Grace might have been experiencing as well. 
> 
> I’ve reinserted all of the relevant Dani x Grace extended and cut scenes from the TDF BluRay, and from the trailers, and obviously  
> I’ve taken a great deal of creative licence throughout to fill them out. But hopefully it feels like a realistic depiction. 
> 
> The Dani from this story will go on to become the Dani from my New World series, so I’ve written this one as a direct prologue for Grace’s Sacrifice. 
> 
> The Grace in this story is as true to the Grace in TDF as I can imagine her. Unlike the Grace I‘ve written in Grace’s Sacrifice and First Contact, this Grace has an efficiency of words and actions true to the Grace in TDF. 
> 
> This was initially going to be a relatively short one-shot, but as I wrote, it became clear that her story needed a lot more time. 
> 
> Thank you in advance for indulging my need to write this particular story ... I shall now return to finishing First Contact.
> 
> Also. Thank you to my gracious beta reader: Litttleribs, for all the double checks and the encouragement!

My body aches everywhere, and the rifle in my arms is unbearably hot from seemingly endless hours of fighting. But I feel alert and ready for the next. The battle was long and hard, any we managed to take out virtually every last Legion enemy we could find. All, except one, and that one could destroy everything, which is why I know there’s going to be a ‘next’ battle.

The general mood in the field has shifted and I can feel the soldiers beginning to tentatively celebrate, but I have news to deliver and there’s a rock in my stomach because I know what’s going to happen next. Obviously I don’t know the future, but I do know her. I know what she’s thinking, and I know what she’ll say. And because I know this, I also know what I am going to say.

In my mind’s eye, I can see how this day is going to end, and that rock gets heavy like my heart.

I walk into the tunnel and see her. I feel warmth at the sight of her, and I’m glad that her team has kept her safe. But I see her face change as I look at her. Just as I know her, she knows me, and she knows that my news is not all good.

“Commander, legions assets have all been neutralised in the TD Chamber.”

She turns around fully and listens, waiting for the part I don’t want to say.

“But my team’s detected a recent event signature.” I take a breath, wanting to delay it. “Mexico City.”

She drops her gaze as she realises what this means.

“A Rev-9 has already gone through.”

My heart is racing, and my stomach is in knots. This is not the news I wanted to be delivering her. I wait a beat, but it doesn’t take her long to digest the information.

“That’s’ it then,” she says simply with an almost imperceptible nod and turns to the soldiers behind her. “Tell the tech teams to start prepping the device.”

And it’s just as simple for me to step forward and say, “Send me.”

She looks away but I need for her to hear me. I let go of my rifle, letting the strap take the weight, and I close the space between us. I hold her gaze and I don’t let her look away.

“Listen. You did everything in your power to prevent this moment. But here we are.”

She’s angry. She looks away and nods.

“Here we are.” It is said with resignation and disgust, and her voice trembles a little bit. It’s not something I’m used to hearing.

I want to touch her and comfort her, I want to use her name, but I know now is not the time. So I move even closer to her, as close as I can get without actually touching her. She looks back at me and I hold her gaze as I lower myself to my knee. I can see this affects her and I want it to. I want her to know I mean it.

“Please”, I pause slightly before asking again “let me save you.”

She can’t speak. And her tears almost break me, but I know that if I give into my own emotion, the moment will be gone, and she won’t send me.

I’ve only been an Augment for a couple of years. I am not the most experienced of us, and I’m not even the strongest of us. But I know her. I know how to reach her, and I know that her instincts will be to trust me. We both know how invested I am in her safety. We both know, for so many reasons, I’m the only one with any real chance of succeeding. I’m the only person for this task, because I’m the person who knows her best. 

So, I hold her gaze, quietly and steadily, until I can see her decision is made.

***

We steal a few hours alone while the tech team prepares the chamber. We use those precious hours to try and sear each other into our souls. We make love tenderly and gently at first, but tears soon mix with sweat and we become desperate to feel each other one last time, and then one last time after that. My body seems to know that tonight is all we have, and it cannot get enough of her. And I know she feels the same.

Her quiet pants, her moans, her cries of pleasure, her breathless trembling body, the taste of her skin on my lips, the liquid velvet feel of her as my fingers slide inside of her, her laughter, her hungry kisses, her joyous tears, the bite of her nails against my skin. They all urge me to keep going, the same as mine urge her.

We’ve lost all sense of time and nothing exists beyond our room. And it’s perfect. 

In the quiet after, I hold her, and somehow, she also holds me as we try not to break the spell of the moment with words too unbearable to speak. Once I get into that chamber, I know I won’t be coming back to her, and I know she knows that too. We don’t need to let the words draw pain when the thought already is.

I hear somebody approaching our door and I close my eyes and hold her almost too tightly. Breathing the scent of her hair into my lungs, hoping that it gets trapped there somehow and I can take it with me.

The knock comes too soon.

I can see the desperation and the silent plea in her eyes, but I know she’ll never form the words to ask me to stay. She can’t. Still, seeing that she wants to, means the world.

I pull off my tags and curl them into the palm of her hand. It seems absurd that this is all I have to give her, but that’s the reality of our world.

She loops the tags over her head and then reaches up and cups my face the way only she can. I cup hers and she presses her cheek into the palm of my left hand. Our kiss is soft and quiet, we breath each other in and our lips caress gently for long moments, removed of the urgency and desperation from earlier we create a tender memory for us each to hold onto.

When we pull away, I can see the resolution in her eyes, but I can also see the tears, and I know mine reflect the exact same.

“I love you Dani.” I finally say and pull her close.

“I love you too, Grace.” She replies quietly into my shoulder and we pull each other impossibly tighter.

It’s another perfect moment and I make sure I file it away safely for later.

***

We’re walking toward the TD chamber when her hand suddenly tightens around mine and she pulls me to a stop.

“Come with me.” And I nod silently. She tells the team to keep preparing and asks to be brought a laser tattoo gun. She leads me to an empty room and gently pushes me back into a seat.

“When you get there, the first thing you need to do is go to a pharmacia and get your meds,” she reminds me, despite the fact that we’ve already run through this, but I smile and nod. I can’t take any non-biological material through with me, so no meds, no radio, no mission briefing. 

The tattoo gun arrives after a moment and she asks for some privacy.

“Grace, I need you to go here if your mission goes sideways okay?” She says it with such conviction that I don’t even stop to wonder, I just agree.

She kneels on the floor between my legs and lifts my shirt up, placing a warm hand on my abdomen.

“Dani, you could just give me the coordinates.” I sigh as she turns the gun on.

“But this way you can’t forget them mi amor.” She teases softly and places a small kiss just below where she’s about to write.

I feel the not altogether unpleasant sting of the laser as she etches a long string of numbers into the skin above my right hip. I know I should be asking her more questions or thinking about the mission. But honestly, with her crouched between my legs, with her hand on my stomach, and with the pain come pleasure sensation on my skin, my mind is wiped of virtually every thought that isn’t carnal in nature.

She looks up from her work and I can tell that she sees it. She shuts off the tattoo gun and smiles. Reaching up, she grasps the back of my neck and pulls herself onto my lap. My arms are instantly around her and her lips are on mine.

With practiced fingers and a hunger that scares us both, we lose ourselves in each other again. Within moments I'm burying my face in her neck to muffle the sounds escaping me, and her vice like grip around my back tightens, keeping her impossibly close to me as her body gently surges against mine, before relaxing completely. 

We remain locked together for a few silent moments, drinking each other in. But all too soon, a low growl rumbles in my chest as somebody knocks on the door. She almost laughs.

She kisses me with that smile still on her lips and I can’t help but smile back. I stand up on trembling legs and bring her with me, holding her tightly against me, suspended above the floor, I kiss her deeply one last time before I gently let her out of my embrace. But as I let her go, I make sure to keep her hand in mine and we slowly make our way back toward the TD chamber.

***

They tell us that I have to enter the chamber naked, so she orders all non-essential personnel out of the chamber and helps me undress. She tenderly takes her time removing and folding my clothes, and I let myself enjoy the sensation. But all too soon it’s done.

Somebody turns the chamber on, and she immediately pulls me into another embrace. I close my eyes and hold her tightly, not caring that the soldiers can see our display of affection and I know she doesn’t care either. I feel my pulse pick up as the device changes the electrical energy in the room.

She talks into my chest and I can do nothing but listen.

“Protect her Grace, but don’t tell her who you are and don’t tell her who I am to you. She’s too soft, she’s not ready to hear any of it.” I hear the sadness in her voice, and I tighten my grip. I nod and kiss the top of her head and I feel her let a breath out. I place fingers underneath her chin and tilt it up toward me until she looks at me and I kiss her one last time.

“Te Quiero.” I say gently and dip my head. I know I want those to be the last words I say to her.

“Te Quiero, mi amor.” She replies quietly against my lips. 

One final squeeze before we let go and I step toward the machine. The impending loss makes my legs feel like lead but adrenaline surges through me, helping me move forward. I climb inside and crouch low as the building energy of the machine makes my skin tingle. 

It’s surreal. With all the visceral input around me, the noise of the chamber escalating, my skin freezing, my body becoming weightless, all I can think about is the metaphysical tearing inside my chest. I chance one last glance at her and she looks at me with that look that only she has. Fierce love. And the tearing inside my chest lessens momentarily as I take strength from her deep dark eyes. I know that her love will be my passenger on this journey, and that comforts me.

The light inside the chamber becomes unbearably bright, the pain assaulting my body grows and I know the launch is about to happen. I expect to feel movement, some kind of disorientating inertia as I move through time, but I don’t, not right away anyway.

What feels like the ground suddenly drops out from beneath my crouched body and I’m falling fast and hard. And now the disorientation takes full effect. My back slams into metal and now I’m spinning and falling. I can see the ground below surging up to meet me, but I can do nothing to slow it down. I feel my body slam into the cold hard ground and then everything recedes into the back of my mind.

***


	2. Chapter 2

Everything is blurry and chaotic, they’re speaking Spanish and for a moment my rattled brain thinks that the woman holding me on my right side might be Dani. But she isn’t.

She speaks but I can’t tell what she’s saying, and my brain takes this moment to wonder why, in all the years that I’ve known her, I never tried to learn Dani’s language.

I see the flashing blue and red lights of the police from my childhood and wonder if they’re here to help. But again. My brain has yet to actually catch up with the reality of my situation.

I’m a 5’10’ Caucasian woman who just landed start naked in the middle of Mexico City. At best the cops will think I’ve been partying somewhere I shouldn’t have been, and at worst, they’ll think I’m drugged and being taken somewhere against my will. Neither will be good for my would-be rescuers or myself.

I drop to the ground. My legs won’t hold me up yet. My body hurts everywhere and I’m pretty sure I must have cracked a few ribs if the pain is anything to go by. I can taste blood in my mouth, and I let it drip onto the ground. I can hear talking, but my head is still ringing, I can’t open my eyes properly, nor can I make out what anybody is saying around me. I try to slow my breathing and divert the pain. I need to get my body back under my control.

One of the policemen approaches and flashes his light in my face _‘fucking asshole’_ I think to myself and shield my eyes, the slow rise of anger acts to focus me a little more and I welcome it.

“Vamos.” As his fingers wrap harshly around my wrist, my augments surge to life, my retinal display flicks on and adrenaline courses through my body. I’m instantly alert and battle ready. I let the anger and the adrenaline fuel me and I let my augments guide my body. I’m barely aware of what I’m going but soon enough the perceived danger has been taken care of. I wait for my breathing to come back under my control, and the couple catches my attention again. He’s speaking English now, thanking me.

I use my retinal display to assess his dimensions. Satisfied, I walk slowly over to him and deliberately place my foot alongside his boot, looking him square in the eyes.

“Don’t thank me yet.” That small part of my brain that’s still muddled and confused, somehow sees humour in the situation. But I don’t laugh, I let the look on my face convey my intent and I wait for him to understand what I’m silently asking. And eventually he does.

***

Clothed and driving toward Arius motors, I think about Dani. I briefly wonder if the younger version of her will be recognisable to me and then I smile because I know that regardless of the circumstance, I’m sure I would recognise her anywhere.

***

“How’s the game?” I almost enjoy bouncing his head off the wall. Almost. I know he’ll wake up with a headache from hell in a few hours, but at least he’ll wake up.

I’m not entirely sure how I manage to walk around the factory with a shotgun tucked into the sleeve of a jacket. Surely somebody notices the out of place gringa in the security uniform. But nobody stops me. How different this time is from my own.

 _‘Ignorance is bliss’_ I’ve heard the saying before, but it truly never made sense until now. If I fail, everyone here, including Dani, will be dead soon. Yet everybody around me is too busy going about their own jobs to notice the very deadly supersoldier in their midst. They’re caught up in their tasks as though it’s any other day. But it really isn’t.

As I walk around the busy factory floor, I feel the surrealness of the situation, and I feel the growing urgency to find Dani before Legion does.

***

My retinal display identifies the disguised Rev-9 and I raise the shotgun, but before I can fire, my eyes follow his line of sight and I see her and promptly freeze. My breath catches in my chest and my heart starts to hammer. Up until that exact moment, my pulse had been calm and even. But one glimpse of her and all the rules go out the door. She looks pissed, and I smile internally, wondering who was just on the receiving side of her ire. God she’s beautiful. My eyes feel like I haven’t seen her in months as I take her in.

I have a split-second flash of a memory and realise that she looks very much like the Dani that rescued me from those thugs when I was a kid.

I watch her face, but I see her brows furrow in confusion and I snap back to the moment, cursing. I’ve stupidly taken my eyes off the Rev-9.

He raises the transformed gun, and without hesitation, I squeeze my trigger. 12 times in rapid succession before I’m standing over his prone, disfigured body. I take aim once more as my rage rises. I want him to hurt like I hurt. He took me away from her, and now he’s trying to kill the younger version of her. I wish I had my Resistance rifle with me, but this shotgun will have to do, and I squeeze the trigger once more.

Dani is screaming and rushing toward him. I momentarily panic. I need to stop her, and my body instinctively wants to put out both arms to wrap her up, but I reign myself back and scoop her back with a single arm.

“That is not your father!”

I grab her behind the neck and force her to look at me, and again, my chest tightens at the familiarity of the movement. But she’s oblivious, completely distracted by the shock of the moment.

“Hey! You come with me or you’re dead in the next 30 seconds.”

And with that I half push half drag Dani and her brother away from the slowly reforming Rev.

She asks me who I am, and I remember Dani’s words to me. I tell her that I’m here to protect her because it’s not a lie.

***

I see him coming and I push them away from me but I push a little too hard, forgetting that this Dani isn’t a soldier yet. She lands awkwardly but she’s no longer in his path, so my focus goes back to him. He throws himself at me and clips the shotgun in my hands, slamming me into the metal drawers at my back. I see Dani slide to a stop on the other side of the floor, and I use my retinal display to make sure she’s okay before I go on the attack.

All my anger and all my grief is now directed down the handle of that sledgehammer. I unleash the animal inside of me, convinced I can destroy him with the sheer force of my rage. Yet, as satisfying as each brutal blow is, I can see that they will only slow him down.

I almost scream as I bring the hammer back down on his head, and I can feel the hot sting of tears burn the back of my eyes, but I blink them away quickly because this time his body follows with it as I draw it back up.

Defence has never been my preferred position and it makes the anger inside of me grow again. I know I’ve expended a lot of energy since I fell into this timeline, and I know I need to end this soon. He splits the sheet of metal in my hands in half, and I push forward, venting my rage as I beat the ever-living crap out of him with it.

So consumed am I with anger that I find myself able to pick him up and I carry him back, impaling him on a nearby table. My yell is still ringing in my ears, I’m panting and trying to focus myself when I hear Diego’s warning and jump out of the way.

 _Did he just call me lady?_ Oh no, that’s not happening.

“Grace” I pant at them both “My name is Grace” 

***

We’re running to find a vehicle and I find that I need to slow my stride more than usual, reminding myself again that this Dani isn’t field trained, isn’t used to running into or away from danger at full pelt. Diego asks me to tell them what that thing in the factory was and I decide that in this case, brutal honesty is required. Sugar coating it will take too long, and we just don’t have the time.

“It’s a terminator. A Rev-9. He was sent here from the future. I was too.” And queue the crickets. I don’t blame them, but I also don’t have time to repeat myself or elaborate so I all but shoved them inside the car. 

I admit. When Diego assumed that I was a machine, the same as the Rev, it touched a nerve.

Augments endure their fair share of prejudice where I come from. People sometimes refer to us as a ‘necessary evil’ and the part of us that is machine is sometimes viewed with distrust by those that don’t know us. Those same people are more than happy to accept our superhuman strength and speed when it’s vital to keep their interests safe, but when we’re not fighting, they want us to assimilate better, to act more human. People forget that we are human because of the metal inside our bodies, but on the odd occasion that they forget who they’re talking to, I usually tell those people to go fuck themselves, and Dani is usually there with similar words of her own and a gentle squeeze of my hand, letting me know that no matter what, she sees the person I am.

So yeah, when Diego implied that I was a machine, I probably could have made more of an effort with my answer. But time and temper are rarely on my side, so I bite off a retort and direct my frustration through the gas pedal.

We’d just left the factory compound when my peripheral vision picked up the heat signature of the massive dump-truck barrelling down on us from the other side of the cement wall.

“Oh shit.” I press on the gas, and get the truck out of danger just in time. 

I know Dani is terrified and why wouldn’t she be. I’m a stranger to her and I’m expecting her to trust me with her life. A life she had no idea was in danger until moments ago. It takes me a minute to manoeuvre the truck out of harm's way but when I do, I try to reassure her.

“I know you’re scared, but I am here to protect you.”

“Why us?” She asks, and of course she would think I’m here for her brother as well, so I correct her.

“You Dani, you’re my mission.”

I know her name is Daniella, and only people who know her call her Dani, so I can see her react the moment I say her name with familiarity in my voice. Admittedly it feels strange to hear it pass my lips because saying her name conjures a very different Dani in my mind.

We manage to get onto the highway but I suspect we would have been able to outrun the Rev better had we not. It’s not like I had a choice though.

“Go faster, go faster!” Diego yells at me.

I know he’s her brother, and I know she’s loses him sometime before Judgment Day, perhaps even today, so I know I shouldn’t be thinking bad thoughts, but in that moment I just want to open the door and push him out. Of course, I don’t do it. I just make it clear by the look I give him that I want to. I can feel the strain of the engine under the hood of the old Ford, and I know I can’t push the car much harder than I already am.

I know he doesn’t know this, but my reflexes are faster than that of any human and I can predict speed and trajectory with pinpoint accuracy. If anyone is going to drive us out of this, it’s going to be me.

But eventually the Rev pins us, and I do have to push the engine of that truck, and what I knew would happen, does.

“Fuck!” I hit the steering wheel in frustration.

The Rev is ramming us now and I need to get outside the truck to try and get him off us. I incorrectly assume Dani can drive, because in my future, she can definitely give me a run for my money when she’s behind the wheel. But Diego grabs the wheel, and I find myself grateful for his presence. I begin to exit the cab of the truck when a thought occurs to me and I yell back over my shoulder.

“Dani, put your seatbelt on”

My Dani had a terrible habit of not strapping in when we go out on missions. Whether it be an unclipped helmet, a loose strap on her vest, or an undone seat belt, she simply forgets. It’s given me more than one heart attack in the time I’ve known her, and I correctly assume that this Dani has the same habit.

Hitting a target with a 10 pound javelin made of rebar while travelling at high speeds would generally be considered difficult. Doing so when that target can also predict your aim is a whole other ball game. So, by the time I throw the last of the six lengths of rebar I can feel the onset of a crash.

Then, as the truck careens into the cement divider and I use the momentum to throw myself clear, I find myself momentarily thankful for the blackout I’m about to have because I know it will buy my body some time. I need to slow down my metabolism somehow, and you don’t get much slower than unconscious. It might have only lasted a few minutes, but when I come to, my breathing is back under control and my temp is closer to normal.

“Grace! Help me!” the fear and urgency in Dani’s voice helps me pick myself up and run to the truck

My retinal display immediately shows me that Diego isn’t going to make it. He’s impaled on the rebar and bleeding internally causing his blood pressure to drop quickly. I feel a momentary stab of guilt over my harsh thoughts towards him.

Dani tries to move him, but I brace his shoulders and stop her, telling her that he’ll bleed out if we move him. It’s the truth, and honestly, I don’t want to cause him any more pain. Adrenaline and shock will have numbed his body for the most part but if I move him, he’ll feel everything again, yet the result won’t change.

I hear the approaching engine and glance back; calculating the time it will take for the oncoming car to reach us.

“Dani we have to go!” but she won’t leave him.

“Take her. Save her.” He gasps. And in that moment Diego and I are the same. He knows he’s going to die, and he’s trusting his sister’s life to me. It hits me hard in the chest.

“I’m sorry.” And honestly, I am.

Dani’s still refusing to move so I grab her almost roughly and pull her from the car and hold her smaller frame against mine. My body knows hers so well I barely even need to think about what I’m doing. I just turn my back and let my body shield hers from the blast created by the impact.

In that second or two of stillness my heart all but stops. I breathe in and it’s her I smell. Her head is tucked tightly against my shoulder, her arms wrapped around my neck, and my face is almost buried in her hair. She smells the same. I have no idea how that’s even possible, but my memory is triggered so strongly that I close my eyes and for a moment I’m holding my Dani.

A few seconds pass before she breaks free from me and tries to run towards the wreck, but I stop her. Again, pulling her close, one arm across her chest holding her to me, the other, grasping her wrist. But she keeps fighting me so I turn her around and make her look at me. I tell her we have to go, or Diego died for nothing and she seems to hear that because she lets me tuck her body close to mine again and I lead her away from the burning wreckage.

But it doesn’t take long before the Rev is after us again. His liquid form follows menacingly from behind us, while his metallic form approaches from the front.

I feel my core temperature rise again and I know it won’t be long before the crash sets in properly. _‘Are you fucking kidding me!’_ I can’t believe that the fight is going to end like this! All I have is a length of rebar and my body, which would be an unfair match in virtually any fight except this one. But I tighten my grip on the rod in my hand and get ready. I’m not afraid to die, but I do fear for her life, and I pray that will drive me long enough for her to get away.

“When they start to kill me. Run.” I whisper to her.

“What!?” comes her incredulous reply.

And then something completely unexpected happens and I’m not entirely convinced that my crash-fatigued hasn’t just made it up. The metal Rev takes the full force of the truck that rams into him, and a woman steps out of it, a grey haired older woman carrying a motherfucking Fostech 12 drum shotgun which she rapidly unloads, and follows that up with a freaking M72 Anti-Tank launcher.

Where the hell did this woman come from? How the hell did she know we were here? And where the fuck did she get her weapons!? The liquid Rev charges us, but her precise shots send him careening over the edge of the bridge. The metal half tries as well, but the anti-tank missile sends him flying in the other direction.

The grey-haired woman casually walks towards us and I instinctively keep myself between her and Dani. But she simply peers over the ledge and lobs a grenade before walking off.

“I’ll be back” She throws over her shoulder casually, as though she’s going for a casual stroll. _What an asinine thing to say._

I stare at her retreating back incredulously for a second but then I remember that the grenade she just threw is about to go off. I wrap myself around Dani again, and to be honest, it’s as welcoming as the first time. Her body is soft and cool against mine, and the scent of her hair makes me take another deep breath. The blast goes off, and a few hard pieces of rubble throw themselves against my back, but no damage is done and it’s over quickly.

“Who the fuck was that?” Dani’s question echoes my own unspoken one, but I don’t have an answer. I want to react, to rant and grumble over the older woman’s thoughtlessness, but I can feel the heat radiating off my skin, and I know I need to get Dani as far away from here before I crash.

“We have to move.” I feel like I’ve said some variation of that a lot this morning.

Dani hesitates, trying to tell me we can’t just steal the truck and leave the woman there.

“Dani. You go, or it kills you. It’s that simple.” I can’t catch my breath to talk properly so I impatiently push her inside the truck and climb in after her. I can feel my limbs starting to get heavy, and my breaths are becoming more laboured. I need to try to cool myself down if I have any chance of driving us to safety.

“Dani, I need some water,” I almost gasp. The words are hard to form and they get stuck in my throat as I try to control my breathing. “Maybe look in the back” I ask her, but she doesn’t move, so I try to reach behind me but my vision blurs and I have to give up. Keeping us on the road becomes my sole focus. 

Dani is shaking and almost curled up in her seat. She wants to go home to tell her father about Diego. I tell her that we’re not doing that, that it’s not possible, but she yells back at me again, trying desperately to make me understand that she has to tell her father. 

“You’re father's dead.” It comes out harsher than I had wanted to, and I immediately regret it. So, I try to explain that the Rev needs physical contact to copy people.

“And they don’t … survive.” Again, less tactful that I would have liked. But my augments are beginning to falter, and I feel like I’m talking and moving under water.

“No.” Dani can barely comprehend what I’ve just told her and I simply don’t have the capacity to console her, so I press on the gas, needing to put more distance between us and the terminator.

I start to quietly hyperventilate and my vision fades slightly. I must have almost passed out and jerked the wheel because suddenly Dani can see I’m not well.

“What’s wrong with you?” her voice is full of concern and my heart aches. She has just lost her brother and her father, yet she has room for genuine concern for me. It makes me feel a little wretched that I couldn’t muster the same for her. But, then again, when it comes to compassion and big hearts, Dani will always win.

“I’m crashing.” I gasp, and my eyelids feel like lead.

“You’re burning up.” She says it with real fear in her eyes. Her touch on my arm feels cool and soothing and I want her to leave it there.

“My metabolism was tuned for short intense bursts.” I drag air into my lungs and continue “You either stop a terminator in the first few minutes, or you're dead.” I shrug. It’s pretty simple logic, and it’s one of the first things Dani taught me. I feel myself getting pulled under and I try to fight it. I have to tell her that I need to find medication fast.

“I need,” I gasp and blink back the darkness that tries to engulf me, “I need meds.” I manage to pant out before my body gives in and I pass out. _‘I should have pulled the fucking car over’_

I don’t know how long I’m out for, but I jolt awake and stomp on the break. The truck grinds to a halt and we’re both shaken. I still can't get my lungs to work properly and I can feel the intense heat radiating from me. When I feel her leave the truck I fumble with the door, trying to follow her, but my legs barely keep me up.

“Get back in the car,” I pant, “I have to protect you.” A hint of desperation enters my voice. I know that if she leaves now there’s no way I’ll be able to follow her.

“You can’t even walk.” She counters. And it’s true, but she didn’t have to throw it at me like that. I notice then that she’s looking at me slightly differently, softer almost. Maybe because of the sorry sight I must make in that moment. The big bad protector who currently couldn’t hurt a fly. And not for the first time, I find myself cursing the very human limitations of my Augment body. 

She says that she’s going to the police and I feel genuine terror take hold of me. I shake my head but the words are a struggle, “you do that, it’ll find you.” I can see she doesn’t believe me so I need to find a way to make her listen.

“You put a hundred cops between you and a terminator, you’ll get a hundred dead cops.” There it is. I see it. Her innate humanity and propensity for compassion. She would never want innocent people to die because of something she did.

My energy is almost out and I feel myself sliding onto the bumper of the truck.

“Dani please.” I all but beg. I can tell that she knows I’ve managed her and she’s annoyed by it, but she comes back anyway. As she walks toward me, I see a new emotion wash across her face. Affection perhaps? She wraps her arm around me and lets me lean on her, and it’s familiar to me. The Commander has done this for me in battle so many times I’ve lost count. I’d almost invariably go off and injure myself in battle, simply because I could put my body through more than those around me, and she’d almost invariably meet me upon my return, shake her head and duck under my arm, helping me either to the med-bay or to our bed. The memory makes me smile.

Apparently pragmatic in both timelines, Dani all but dumps me into the back seat and gets in the drivers’ side. She’s about to teach herself to drive and my chest quietly bursts with a familiar pride.

***

The car stops and I grab the gun and stumble out of the car. She ducks under my arm again, and I lean heavily into her this time. She groans.

“Fuck you’re heavy.” And, truly, I’d laugh if I had the energy. She sounds so much like my Dani in that moment.

I gulp down almost a full bottle of water while she tries to get the pharmacists attention. I hear the urgency in her voice, and I realise it's for me.

“Por favor!” She slams the bell several times.

My training allows me to rattle off the list of medications I need, and I have never been so glad for having memorised something in my life.

“I need any anti-convulsant, sodium polystyrene sulfonate, insulin, benzodiazepine …” but he’s afraid and I can see that I’m not going to get what I need quickly enough so I barge my way through, gun in my hand.

“Uughhh. Fuck it. Move!” I groan and stumble into the dispensary.

Nothing is making much sense right now. My arms feel like lead, and my fingers fumble with the boxes and bottles in the drawers so I let my retinal display tell me when it finds the medication I need. But soon, even it starts to flicker and glitch and I know I don’t have much time.

I get the last of the meds and head back toward Dani but just as I reach her I feel myself slipping away. I drop like the 250-pound Augment I am and hit the floor hard. I think I take Dani with me but I’m not entirely sure. I feel her reach over me and take my gun from my hand, and I want to tell her that I’m proud of her but my body choses that moment to shut down.

I can hear muffled talking and I think I hear the older woman from the bridge, but I convince myself that my overheated, delusional brain is making shit up.

My head is somehow in Dani’s lap now. My body is far too long for the seat and my legs are jammed uncomfortably against the door, but the softness under my head is comforting. I can feel her cool hands flit over my face and neck, and I want to look up at her, but I can barely breathe, let alone open my eyes.

A moment, or hours pass, I can’t tell, then something cold lands on my trembling, overheated body, and I feel a forceful sting in my leg before the world around me fades away again.

I don’t know how or why, but I’m back in the Dragonfly. Dani is laying in a stretcher at my feet, and she’s injured. I know exactly how this fever dream is going to play out, but this time it’s slower, more hazy than it usually is, right up in until the moment I ask to become who I am now. It’s a moment from my past but I can feel the panic and pull of death as if I were there, and then in a crystalline moment of clarity, I suddenly remember why I’m still alive.

The metallic tinge of blood is everywhere. In my mouth, closing off my airway, oozing into my lungs and my torso, plastered to my face. I’m ready to let my body bleed out, but then I remember why I was fighting in the first place. Why, in that moment, I volunteered to become an Augment when it would have been so much easier to lay back and let my injuries take me.

Dani.

“I volunteer. Make me an Augment.” I gasp. Adrenalin fuels me now, and I want to live. Then I’m engulfed by the surreal quiet of the cold operating room just before they put me under, just before I am transformed. And the fever dream ends.

I let myself come back to my body without moving a muscle. The crippling pain in my torso is gone, as is the blood in my lungs, the vice around my chest, and the pervasive cold in my limbs. I’m not dying anymore; neither in my dream nor in real life.

Somehow, the crash has passed. 

My retinal display tells me that my vitals are normal again, it tells me that it’s now afternoon, and it tells me I’m not alone.

Dani’s knock at the door makes me open my eyes and I see her; the older woman from the bridge.

“Talk. Talk fast.” She says with a gun aimed at my head. I don’t doubt that she’ll pull the trigger, but I’d like to see her try. I easily grab it from her hands and use my body to pin her to the wall, as a surge of protective anger fills me.

“You first.”

I don’t trust her. She has an almost mean edge to her that I can’t figure out, and I don’t have time to play games. I could have so easily snapped the old woman’s neck then and there, but Dani’s insistent knocking tugs at the anger. I know she wouldn’t want me to, so I cage the animal inside me and push back off her more harshly than I probably needed to.

Dani keeps knocking. I make sure there’s a round chambered in the firearm as I back towards the door, waiting to see if she gives me a reason to fire. Part of me hoping she does.

I get to the door and open it, and this is the first time I’ve looked at Dani without the looming threat of death over us. And again, she makes my breath catch in my chest.

I can tell she’s been crying and that she’s exhausted, but when I open the door she smiles and immediately asks me if I’m okay. I momentarily forget about the older woman and smile back at her, asking if she’s okay. The exchange seems so normal, yet at the same time, surreal and tense because the older woman is there. And I can see she has the audacity to look impatient with us. _‘fuck off’_

Dani walks past me and into the room but I reach out and put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her. Again, it’s a casual, knowing touch, something I’ve done hundreds of times before, but never to this Dani. She doesn’t seem to notice. I put myself slightly in front of her, and the corner of my mouth raises ever so slightly as Dani’s ire is directed at someone other than me for a change.

“You locked me out?!” she asks the woman indignantly.

“Sometimes Mommy’s and Daddy’s need to have grown up discussions”

The comment makes Dani sigh in frustration, and it makes me momentarily awkward. I blink slowly as I think about a very particular game the Commander I sometimes played in our bedroom, and I swallow my reaction and shut my mouth, letting the woman talk.

“So, you’re here to protect her. What are you? Never seen one like you before. Almost human.” She says it with a hit of disgust in her voice and my hackle rise. She’s really good at doing that. 

“I _am_ human, just enhanced. You know, increased speed and strength, thorium micro-reactor.” I pause and catch her gaze. “Which means I can rip your throat out if you piss me off, so don’t.” Usually this makes people pause, but she just stands there with a slight smile on her face, barely even blinking. And it's infuriating!

“When are you from?” She emphasises the ‘when’ and now I know that she knows more than I’d originally thought, and the look on her face tells me that she's pleased with herself for subverting my expectations.

“2042.” I answer immediately, refusing to let her see that I’m thrown, but I feel Dani react to my answer. “Your turn.”

She tells us her name “Sarah Connor,” like it’s meant to mean something. She talks about a previous encounter with a terminator, and my interest grows. Then she mentions the Resistance and my pulse quickens, but she speaks of her son as it’s leader and I’m confused.

“Which Resistance?” I ask.

“The Human Resistance. Against SkyNet.” She waits for some sign of recognition “The AI that’s trying to wipe us all out.”

“I’ve never heard of it.” And now I see a different emotion cross her face. She seems momentarily pleased. Telling us that she and John changed the future, saved three billion lives.

“You’re welcome.” As though we’re supposed to be grateful. I can feel Dani sit down heavily behind me.

 _‘lady you may have changed our future, but you didn’t change our fate’_ I want to say, but I know it would be unnecessary and cruel, so I bite my tongue. I almost don’t want to ask the next question, because I’ve already guessed the answer. It explains how fractured she is.

“Where’s your son now?” She doesn’t even begin to answer and I can see the grief on her face. And I’m sorry I asked. But she explains briefly, ending by telling us that she hunts terminators now.

“Enough of a resume for you?” She asks peevishly, and we immediately go back to being combative.

“No.” I shake my head. “How did you know we’d be on that freeway?

“Interview’s over.” She gets up and starts packing her things. “We gotta move.”

“We,” I scoff, “there is no we. Dani’s with me. It’s my mission to protect her.”

“Oh yeah,” she scoffs right back and looks at Dani, “how’s that working out for you?”

She then proceeds to lecture me on modern technology. Implying that I don’t know the important things about this timeline. Sure, she may be right, but I certainly don’t need her to tell me that, so I square my shoulders and try to ignore her.

“You two won’t last ten hours.” And she leaves.

I want to let her go. God do I want to. But the soldier in me knows that we will be safer together. She obviously knows more than she’s letting on, and she also has access to some pretty heavy duty weaponry. As much as it pains me to admit, she’s right. We could use her help. I tuck my gun into my pants, swallow my pride, and follow her outside to the car. But I can’t help myself, I need to assert my position.

“Let’s get something straight. If you get in my way, or if you put her in danger, I will fuck you up.” I think I did okay.

“Right.” She replies with a knowing smile “I drive.” And just like that she asserts her position right back, and I hate to admit it, but Sarah wins that round quite clearly.

It’s a new sensation for me, not being taken seriously, not being feared or admired, or both, for what I am and what I can do. This hasn’t happened for a very long time, and I have to admit, my juvenile anger almost got the better of me. I would have gladly wiped that smug smirk off her face, but Dani joined us and I ended up having to swallow my temper instead. 

We drive for what seems like hours while I sit in the passenger side and studiously try to ignore her. I wasn’t going to lick my wounds in front of her, I am a grown ass adult afterall, but I also wasn’t going to be friendly.

“That machine, who sent it?” she finally breaks the silence.

I don’t answer.

“I can’t fight it if I don’t know what we’re up against.”

I almost scoff.

“It’s a Rev-9 model. You don’t fight it, you run from it.” My tone is almost sarcastic and I’m not proud of it. 

“Yeah, but who sent it?” Dani interjects, and I feel like a child. Of course, I’ll answer Dani who literally just asked me the same question Sarah did. I sigh and answer.

“Not who. What. And it wasn’t some SkyNet thing.” I can’t help myself “In the future that actually happened, it’s called Legion.”

And then Dani tries to bridge the divide again.

“Sarah, how did you know we would be on that bridge?” She asks Sarah the same question I had, and I see Sarah have the same contrite reaction I did. Trust Dani to be able to make us answer each-other’s questions. Her skills as a negotiator are evident even now, and I feel a familiar sense of pride rise up in my chest.

Sarah takes her glasses off and her answer is unexpected. I ask her if she still has the text messages on her phone and Dani quickly hands it to me.

‘What are you doing?” Sarah askes with genuine interest.

“Future shit” I reply. Not to be rude, but because I barely understand the science behind some of my implants.

I look at the coordinates on the phone and my pulse quickens. I look up in surprise and Dani catches it.

“What is it?” She’s watching me more intently.

So, I explain the coordinates and how I know the location. I show them my tattoo quickly, and I tell them that we’re going to Laredo.

Again, Sarah has something to say to derail me, and again, Dani provides a reasonable solution. So, before we know it, we’re pointing the car in the direction of Los Heroes where we plan to jump onto the cross-border freight-train known as La Bestia (the Beast) and then make our way to her uncle's home closer to the Laredo border.

***


	3. Chapter 3

We ditch the car under an overpass and get our things. I hold the door open for Dani out of habit, then perform a quick scan of the area before I give her the all clear signal. As I pass her, I reach for her shoulder again, and realise that I’m letting myself slide into familiar territory more often, but I genuinely don’t give a fuck. I care for her, and I want to keep her safe. Sue me if some affection gets tangled up in that.

I walk over to the back of the car and ask Sarah the question that’s been on my tongue for hours but I couldn’t ask in-front of Dani.

“Why do you care what happens to her?”

“Because I was her,” she smirks, “and it sucks.” It wasn’t the answer I was expecting, and it makes me pause; I don’t actually know what she means.

Dani buys us food at the station, and I suddenly realise that I’m ravenous. I haven’t eaten since I arrived in Mexico, and with my metabolic requirements being what they are, I know I’m definitely short on calories. I eye the food containers as Dani places them in her bag, and I have to tell my suddenly very vocal stomach to wait a while.

The train ambles past, and of course it wont stop, it’s a freight train. But that doesn’t stop dozens of people from risking life and limb as they clamour aboard. We run along-side the carriage for a moment before I lift Dani up and help her find purchase then quickly haul myself up and onto the container. We reach the top and pick out a spot to sit.

I look around us and find myself remembering Dani’s quip about Sarah and I being too white, and I sober as I realise that she’s right. The top of the train is full of people of all different ages, backgrounds, and genders, but none of them share my skin colour. I never knew much about social disparities in the world before Judgement Day, but I know now, without having to examine it too closely, that somebody like me would probably never have had to risk their lives to sneak atop a deadly train, move their families without the guarantee of food or shelter, and risk being detained if caught, just to find a better life.

We settle ourselves quietly and it’s not long before I eagerly dig into the food Dani had brought with her. I can’t remember when I last had food that tasted of something more than reconstituted protein, and I let my enjoyment be known. I eat half of the rice and chicken she purchased, I demolish a can of beans, and I’m almost half-way through a can of diced fruit when Dani asks me to tell her what happens when the world fell apart.

My stomach suddenly feels heavy in a way that has nothing to do with the food I’ve just eaten and I pause for a moment, remembering that the Commander asked me not to tell Dani anything. But I look at Dani now, and she has a look on her face that I can’t describe. She knows what she’s going to hear will be terrible, but she wants to hear it anyway. It’s a mixture of compassion and genuine concern, and I can’t help but want to answer her.

She listens silently and I tell her about the AI attack, that initially millions, then billions die, but it's not until I tell her about my father being killed over a can of peaches that I feel her reach out and touch my knee. She tells me she’s sorry, and I’m comforted by the genuine care in her touch and her voice. I continue my story, and as I reach the end, I don't know why I say what I do next. Perhaps a part of me wants to reach out to her.

“But I got lucky. Someone found me...”

I forget myself and look at her briefly as the moment we first meet flashes through my mind's eye. I know she catches something in my expression, but I look away before she sees too much, and I finish my train of thought.

“… saved me. And, then we started fighting back.” I feel the muscles around my jaw tighten as the memories wash over me.

“And let me guess,” Sara interjects “Dani gives birth to the one man that can stop it.”

I almost growl. My temper is right there, urging me to say something. I can see Dani’s confusion, and the way she’s looking at me to explain more. But I can’t tell her. And Sarah just keeps making it worse with her awful assumptions.

“Yeah, you’re not the threat. It’s your womb.” I want to slap her mouth shut so bad it hurts.

“Fine. Let someone else be Mother Mary for a while.” I can’t hear anymore. I’m seething. How dare she talk about Dani’s role in the Resistance with such disregard, inadvertently or not. I have to say something.

“If you’re Mother Mary, why do I so wanna beat the shit out of you?” The words come out much calmer and more coherently than the surge of protective anger inside of me would like. _The_ _fucking audacity!_ I struggle to reign in the desire to throw Sarah from the moving train as the animal inside of me paces, wanting out. But I also know that Dani would frown on my violent urge so I get up and walk away.

I stand at the edge of the container and let the cool night wind whip around me, taking the edge off my angry indignation. I breathe out evenly and let myself be further soothed by the rocking motion of the train underneath me.

There’s a small hand on by back and she urges me to sit, which I do. My legs dangle off the edge of the container and she puts herself up against me. I have to wrestle with the urge to wrap an arm around her, so I clench my jaw and stare ahead.

“So, how do we win?” she asks evenly with determination clear in her voice. She knows Sarah said the wrong thing, but she doesn’t know why, and instead of pushing for information she knows I don’t wish to share, she asks something she knows I can. And I smile. This is the Dani I know.

“We win by keeping you safe.” I reply honestly, and she nods.

We sit together in silence for a little while longer. I can tell that the rocking of the train is relaxing her, her eyes are getting heavy and I feel a tenderness toward her that is not all surprising. I put a friendly arm on her shoulder and indicate towards Sarah and our bags.

“You should try to get some sleep.”

I can see that she wants to stay, but it’s important that she rests, so I stand up and help her up to her feet. She makes her way back to our pseudo picnic spot, but I remain where I am, watching her as she gets ready to sleep. I know it’s probably safe enough for me to try and catch some shut eye, but I also know that I won’t chance it. Instead, I flick my retinal display on and let it scan our surroundings while occasionally training my eyes over Dani’s sleeping figure to make sure she’s resting well. I stand there like a silent sentinel, arms crossed, keeping watch atop the container until the sun rises.

***

In the morning, we jump off La Bestia, and thanks to Dani, manage to hitch a ride in the back of an old pick-up truck. The trip from the train to her uncles’ house is long and dusty, and Dani is still clearly exhausted. Grief will do that, as will running for your life. So, I wedge myself against the hard edges in the back of the truck and offer her a softer place to lay down. She doesn’t even pause before accepting it, and I blink and need to swallow as I feel her familiar weight against me.

I can feel Sarah’s eyes on me, but I’m too distracted by my own thoughts to care about hers. I look down at Dani and am overcome with a sense of wonder. My heart is having trouble telling them apart, and now, so too is my body. The wind blows her hair across her sleeping face, and I pull it back gently and tuck it behind her ear. Something I’ve done so often it’s virtually muscle memory, and I catch myself. It still feels exactly the same. Her skin feels the same. My hand starts to tremble against her neck, so I move it to her shoulder, not wanting to break contact just yet.

My insides are churning again. I know I’ve forever lost my Dani, and the thought of it makes me swallow hard and blink back the burning behind my eyes. But as I look down at this Dani, her innocence, her softness, and her quiet strength almost overwhelms me.

_Jesus! What the fuck is wrong with me!_

She’s so different yet so familiar. My heart and my body are busily ignoring my mind and my eyes, and I’m not about to intervene. I’m essentially trapped in place by her sleeping body, and the forced silence of the trip allows me the chance to really think about the swirl of emotion inside of me.

If it weren’t for Dani Ramos, I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that I’d be dead. She saved me, then she took me in and gave me a home. She taught me to fight, and as I grew older and stronger, I followed her into every battle I could. My teenage gratitude turned into instant loyalty which remained a constant, even now. That sense of loyalty was soon joined by adoration, and I’m not embarrassed to admit that, as I grew up, the inevitable infatuation was quickly followed by lust.

But really, aren’t all these feelings and emotions all various shades of the same colour we call love?

I know I have loved Dani for most of my life, but when that love was unexpectedly and willingly reciprocated, nothing could really prepare me for it. How powerful a love like that can make you feel, yet how absolutely stripped bare and vulnerable at the same time. How many old wounds it can heal, yet how much it can make you hurt in both good and bad ways. How you live every day just to be the cause of a look, a smile, or a touch. How you’d give up being with them, jump into an unknown world, if you knew it would make them safe.

And a thought occurs to me. _Maybe loving my Dani somehow means that loving this Dani is inevitable?_

And instantly it strikes me. In some way, I do love this Dani. I don’t know her, at least not in the same way I know the Commander, but in some ways, I know her better than she knows herself. I know what’s inside of her, and I know her nature. I know how her smile reaches her eyes without fail. And I know how those eyes change when they look at me. Obviously, I don’t, or perhaps can’t, love her romantically. My heart is in far too many pieces for that. But I do love her.

The realisation makes my chest tight again and I have to look away. I catch Sarah’s eyes and I feel the need to run, to escape. I feel exposed, like I’ve been caught. I can’t remove the emotions from my face quickly enough and I know she sees it, but in a moment of compassion I didn’t think she was capable of, her own eyes soften and it’s Sarah that looks away, letting me slowly reign myself in and recover in private.

That’s the moment that I feel things shift between her and I.

I know that she knows how I feel.

And she knows that I know she knows.

And with that knowledge, her posture relaxes ever so slightly. She puts her sunglasses back on and sits back against the truck. It almost feels like acceptance, but neither of us acknowledges it. And suddenly I see the kindred spirit in her. The warrior that’s the same as me. The fierce protector. And I know that I can trust her with Dani’s life, even if I still want to punch her. 

Now that some of the conflict inside me is soothed, I let myself think about the two Dani’s in my world.

Dani told me that the younger her was soft, weak, and naive, but I know now that she either had a very skewed memory of herself, or she was being overly self-critical. Knowing her memory, it was likely the latter.

This younger Dani radiates a gentleness and optimism that her older self will keep suppressed and only allow out on occasion. I count myself lucky to have been one of the few to have seen that side of the Commander. This Dani hasn’t yet learned to be ruthless, to put her feelings aside for the greater good, even when it hurts. To know that her decisions will more often than not send people into a battle they won’t return from but make them anyway.

But in this Dani, I’ve seen flashes of the almost legendary anger and ferocity that will one day be directed with deadly precision at our enemy. I also see the rock-solid foundations from which the Commander will build herself. I see her virtually unbreakable will, I see her sense of justice, her quick intellect, her unwavering goodness and humanity, everything that will one day inspire us to unite behind her.

In order to become the Commander, this Dani will eventually grow harder edges, and she’ll bury these traits under an even stare, harsh words, and harsher actions. But those of us who are lucky enough to know her will still know what’s underneath.

There’s a part of me that wishes I could spare this Dani the loss of what the Commander would call her weaknesses. And who knows. If we make it through his, her future might not hold the same terrors. She may not have to grow those harder edges. _God I hope I can make that happen for her._

***

I jump out and offer my hand to Dani, helping her get down. And even though Sarah and I have come to an unspoken truce, for some reason I don’t offer her the same. 

I’m nervous and it’s an unfamiliar sensation. Then I realise that it’s because this is the first time I’m meeting an elder in Dani’s family; the last remaining patriarch. I can hear and see the affection they have for each other, and all of a sudden, it’s important to me to make a good impression.

“Hola.” I step forward and extend my hand.

“Con gusto.” He replies easily and shakes my hand back. I immediately like him. 

He and Dani catch-up for a little while. She tells him that both her father and brother are dead, but she doesn’t yet tell him how, and he doesn’t push. Sarah paces almost anxiously and I studiously try to ignore it, which becomes a lot easier when food is brought to the table. I know I ate last night, but my stomach seems to have forgotten. The fresh tortillas smell amazing and I lean forward, wanting to dig in, but not wanting to appear rude. Dani smiles indulgently and pushes the largest plate of food in front of me. We lock eyes and for a moment I feel awkward, almost shy. How many times had the Commander done this for me in our past? I’ve lost count. 

As I eat, I busy myself with pulling out the meds and measuring out a couple of doses just in case. I dissolve the pills and capsules into a glass of bottled water. Not the most precise or sterile method, but I work with what I have. A fly is hovering annoyingly over my meds and my food and I swipe it away before filling my mouth again.

Dani‘s uncle might be a coyote, but he seems like one of the good ones. He obviously cares for Dani, and he wants to make sure that Sarah and I aren’t leading her into trouble. Dani uses this moment to tell him how her father and brother died, and I watch for his reaction.

“That’s a new one.” Flacco says from the sofa

That fucking fly is in my face again, and I suddenly think of an idea to kill two proverbial birds with one stone. I use my retinal display to track the motion of the pesky fly, slowing it’s movements down so my aim is exact. I twirl open my butterfly knife and take a long even backhand stroke through it’s tiny buzzing body. My enhancements allow me to see its insides as it splits cleanly in half and drops onto the table.

“Grace is part machine too.” Dani doesn’t miss a beat, she’s apparently always been a natural at follow-through.

My food is now safe from the fly, and Dani’s uncle looks convinced. I put the knife down and dig right back into my food as though no further explanation is required. And none is. He thinks quietly for a moment, but I can see it in his face, he’ll take us across the border.

I didn’t expect him to take us himself, but I’m glad he does. He and Flacco are pleasant company, and they provide a good counter to Sarah’s almost sullen presence, and my close to silent one. He starts to sing ‘Coyote Blues’, Flacco apologises, Dani laughs, and Sarah groans. I smile from my position up front thinking what a strange team we make, and I have to admit that it’s nice to hear Dani relaxed and enjoying the exchange.

We skirt around Nuevo Laredo on the Mexican side of the border and take the much more isolated mountains toward the Rio Grande. It’s taken us almost half a day, and the sun is setting, but we are almost there. I can hear something in the distance, and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, sensing something nearby but I can’t yet see it.

“Wait.” I hold out my hand “Take cover.”

We press up against the rock ledge and I peer around it. My night vision picks up several armed officers closing in on us from the sides.

“Soldiers. Heavily armed. Flanking us.” I whisper back to Sarah. The only other person carrying a gun.

“I don’t hear anything.” she whispers back, and I have to try not to roll my eyes.

“Yeah, well you’re not an augmented super soldier from the future, are you?” I bite back.

I want to turn around to see her face, but I keep my eyes trained on the approaching soldiers. They haven’t seen us yet, and with any luck, I can use my optical implants and the cover of dark to guide us away from them.

“We have to hurry.” I lead our group away, but somehow, they all begin to double back and head in our new direction. Somebody is guiding them, and my jaw clenches as I realise that the Rev-9 probably has network access to all of the drones and military communication lines on both sides of the border.

I manage to get everybody behind a large rock formation just as the soldiers fire in our direction, but, I can tell they still can’t see us because their shots are too wide.

“The river. How Far?” I ask Dani’s uncle.

“Less than a kilometre to the crossing.” I nod my understanding. 1000 meters. At full speed, I can cover that in about a minute. I can run ahead, draw fire, and clear a path to let Sarah bring up the rest.

“Okay. We run for it. Leave the bags.” I dump the bag from my back and I check the magazine in the shortened AR-15 I’m carrying. I slap the magazine into place and Dani looks at me earnestly.

“Grace. I don’t want any more people dying because of me.” I look at her to make sure she’s serious. And of course, she is.

“I mean it.” her voice lowers and I blow out a breath.

“Fine. Leg shots. Whatever.” I concede, somewhat disappointed.

I can see that the soldiers are carrying M4A1’s. Much more high-powered than what I have, but the stubby carbine weapon in my hands is more manoeuvrable and tactical, and when combined with my speed and accuracy, they don’t really stand a chance. At least, they wouldn’t have if Dani had let me take them out.

I race ahead and draw their fire. I know they can’t easily take aim at me in the dark at the speed I’m going, even with their night vision.

As predicted, they’re easy pickings for me, but I still have to concentrate more than I normally would, making sure that my shots are levelled at their extremities. But, by the time we get to the crossing, I’ve taken out a half dozen soldiers. I provide cover while everyone gets into the raft, and just after we push off, two more soldiers emerge from the tree-line. They manage to get off several shots before I can, and I feel rounds fly past me and into the water around our raft. I panic for a moment, thinking Dani might be hit.

“Dani, you okay?”

“I’m okay.” She whispers back.

The soldiers don’t follow us across the river as it’s too close to the border now. I feel the raft hitting the bank on the other side and I jump out and begin to follow the others up the bank. Dani’s uncle speaks in a pained voice from the raft, and I look at him.

“The wall,” he breathes, “there’s a door beneath. Flacco knows it.” I can see his vitals are dropping rapidly and my heart sinks. He won’t be coming with us.

“Tio!” Dani yells and moves back towards the raft just as he tips into the water. I beat her to it and grab hold of the front of his shirt, pulling him to the surface.

My retinal display tells me that he’s dead. And I feel genuinely sad to have lost this man who helped us but I gently let him go into the water and turn back.

Dani is yelling and struggling against Sarah who’s holding her back.

“If you don’t wanna join him. Keep moving.” It’s the first time she’s been directly harsh towards Dani and it makes me pause. But in a way, she’s right.

Dani starts. She shakes her head, barely able to comprehend the callousness of what Sarah just said.

“You know what,” she scowls at the older woman, “I really hope the future doesn’t do to me what it did to you.”

“Me too.” Sarah replies evenly and pushes Dani up the bank.

I help a distraught Flacco get to his feet and as we head toward the wall and I think about what Dani just said. The future did make my Dani harder and colder, more ruthless. But it didn’t make her mean. Sarah unfortunately let grief turn her into something that Dani hopefully never will.

Flacco opens up the tunnel and ducks underneath and I hang back to provide cover again and step down just as Sarah disappears through it. I emerge on the other side and the three of them are waiting for me.

My night vision immediately sees the trap. Seven vehicles, and at least 10 armed officers lay in wait in the darkness.

“Oh shit” I breathe a moment before the flood lights turn on and a voice yells at us to drop our weapons.

“We get locked up and it comes for her, she’s dead.” Sarah says over her shoulder.

My finger tightens around the trigger, knowing she’s right. I’ve already locked onto each target, knowing I can break left and draw their attention while firing off at least enough rounds to drop them all in a matter of three or four seconds. But then Dani interrupts my plans by putting her hands up in the air.

“Okay!” she yells back at them and I try to argue with her. She turns around and looks directly at me.

“They can shoot me, but I’m not watching you die!” There’s a fierceness in her eyes that stops me.

I’m rocked. I don’t know how to respond to her admission. In that moment, she is my Commander, and my love, and I can do nothing but acquiesce. So I silently hold my weapon out by the barrel, hands raised in the air. The border police approach and I quickly speak to Sarah.

“If they separate me from her, please, get her out of there.” I know my voice has a hint of desperation to it, but I don’t care.

It takes everything I have not to fight back against the rough handling. The tight handcuffs and the shoving. I could so easily break every one of them, but I work hard to suppress the urge.

They haul us up and as we walk back to the vehicles, I pick up the sound of a drone above us and again, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. There’s a shift in the tempo of the engine and I can see it start to plummet toward us. _‘Fuck! it’s him’._ And my pulse jumps.

I don’t even think. My plastic cuffs are easily snapped, border patrol officers tumble in my wake, and I’m closing in on Dani in less than a second.

“Dani!” I charge at her as the engine becomes even higher pitched. The police don’t even have time to raise their weapons. It all happens too quickly. I barrel through them and have just enough time to grab two fistfuls of Dani’s clothing. I use my momentum to hurl her clear just as the drone strikes the ground to my right.

I feel the heat of the explosion, as the impact of the blast picks me off my feet and slams me into the side of a car just before everything turns black 

***

I startle awake and know immediately that I’m crashing. I gasp and arch hard against the bed as my body involuntarily launches into a short seizure, and I realise then, that I’ve probably been unconscious for a while. Without my meds, toxins and cellular debris from my rapidly healing wounds have been building up in my bloodstream. My hands break free from their cuffs again and I roll onto my side, trying to bring my uncooperative body back under control. My arms and legs twitch but quickly relax, and I’m able to suck in a few breaths before I hear them approaching from behind me.

Thankfully my position on the bed is perfect. I barely need to expend any energy as I fluidly roll off it and onto my feet, leaving the two guards unconscious on the floor.

I feel a little like a predatory animal as the Medical Officer backs up quickly into the observation room. I stalk after him and catch sight of the images of the CT scans. I see my augmented skeleton and my eyes turn dangerously toward him.

“Did I say you could look at my private parts?”

I could have been gentler, but I just don’t have any fucks left to give tonight. My body hurts from the impact of the drone strike, it’s still fighting the crash, I’m filthy, I smell like ash and smoke, my ass is half hanging out of this ridiculously small hospital gown, and they’re busy trying to figure out my insides. I step menacingly toward the seated officer.

“Where do they take the new prisoners?”

“They’re called detainees.” She can’t help but correct me even though she’s clearly terrified. I tilt my head and take another step which shuts her up.

“They’re taken to the south end holding area for proces…” That is all I need to know. One strike and she’s also unconscious against the desk.

“Thanks.”

I measure up the prone figures and quickly strip the male Medical Officer. Thankfully the two syringes full of my meds have been placed in a tray in the observation room. I quickly inject a dose, grab the collapsible baton, pocket the last syringe, and hike my new pants up. I can feel the Rev-9 close by and I need to find Dani.

I emerge quickly from the medical wing and find myself on a platform above the holding cells. It only takes a few seconds for my retinal display to find both Dani, and the prowling Rev-9. He’s only a few cells away from her but thankfully he hasn’t seen her yet. I quickly pull on the fire alarm and vault over the rail and down onto the floor below. The lock on the door breaks with very little effort and I’m inside the holding area. I can see that I’ve caught his attention so I need to create a bigger distraction. Opening up the cells does exactly that, and a tide of people rush past me, obscuring me from him.

I get to Dani’s cell and snap the lock. My eyes are tracking the approaching Rev when I hear her say my name and I feel her hands cup my face. My reaction is automatic for a fraction of a second. I want to close my eyes and sink into the familiar sensation but he’s coming fast.

“He’s here, we gotta go.” I grab her hand and pull her with me. I can hear the sound of metal piercing flesh behind me, he’s close, but we push forward quickly. We get outside and rush toward the chopper. The pilot doesn’t even see me coming before he’s flat on the ground. We climb in just as the doors to the facility burst open and a body flies out.

“We gotta go.” I say needlessly again, and start the engines, praying that we have the precious seconds needed to get it airborne.

“There’s Sarah, she’s coming!” Dani calls out and for a second, I’m torn. But Dani is my mission. I have to keep her safe, and I know Sarah would understand this.

“There’s no time.” I say quickly and see the Rev begin his charge toward us.

I pull on the stick and the chopper begins to lift, but it barely gets a foot off the ground before Dani does something completely unexpected. She grabs my gun and jumps out, telling me that she won’t leave Sarah behind.

I’ll admit, I wanted to strangle her in that moment. The Rev was closing in on us at an inhuman pace, and keeping a chopper hovering a foot off the ground while trying to get your charge back inside is not an easy task.

I see Sarah sprinting toward the landing pad

“Sarah! Get her in!” I yell, and to my relief, she scoops Dani back inside the chopper as she boards it. She takes the firearm and manages to land a cluster of three precise shots to his head. I get the chopper to lift just as he launches toward us, and I hear the sound of metal scraping metal before he’s back on the ground. _‘Fuck that was close’_

Now, fear and relief combine to create anger. I can’t believe Dani did that. I can’t believe I didn’t see that she would try. I almost lost her, and I’m fuming.

“Dani, you need to understand something. You can’t do stupid shit like that. You cannot put yourself at risk.” I breathe heavily between sentences, trying to temper my anger.

“He would’ve killed Sarah.” She argues back.

“That doesn’t matter!” I snap and turn to look her in the eyes “When are you gonna get it? Everybody dies if you don’t make it.”

She shakes her head in disbelief and sits back, more angry than contrite.

“She’s right,” Sarah leans in and says to Dani. She’s agreeing with me! Gratitude mixes with surprise but I keep my mouth shut and my expression neutral, silently thanking her for stepping in.

“What?” Dani can’t believe what she’s hearing either.

***


	4. Chapter 4

It’s early in the morning when we approach the cabin at the coordinates. This in no way looks or feels like the location for a secret Resistance outpost. It looks normal. Perhaps hand built. Homely, and well used. There’s a white van in the driveway that has ‘Carl’s Draperies’ emblazoned upon it and, for a minute I have to question the Commander’s instructions.

Sarah covers the door and I take front, signalling Dani to stay behind me.

As soon as the door opens, I know we have the right place. My retinal display immediately picks up his metal skeleton. I’m rooted to the spot for a second, trying to figure out what he is. He looks to his right and a moment of recognition crosses both his and Sarah’s faces.

“Sarah Connor.” He says, and again, I find myself completely thrown … _What is that accent?_

But then my attention is quickly drawn back as Sarah swings toward him and raises her weapon. Her rage is palpable, and I know she’s going to try to kill him. I don’t even really think about whether or not she can, I just stop her.

“Stop!” I grab the barrel of the gun and point it to the roof just as she fires. The heat of the shot burns my hand through the metal, but I ignore it and keep the firearm securely pinned against me.

“I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!” she seethes at him. I don’t think she can even see me.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I yell in her face and get her attention.

“Let me have it!” She tries to pull the shotgun away from me.

“No. You need to calm down.” I say through clenched teeth. But when have those words ever really worked with her?

“That thing killed John!” She growls and tries again.

I pause for a split second. And turn my head toward him “Is that true?”

“Yes, but I’m not what you think I am.” And to be honest, I have no idea what he is.

Sarah is wild with anger and grief; she keeps trying to get the gun away from me but I can’t find the desire to push her off me or yell at her anymore. Dani steps in and does what she does so well. Her voice filled with compassion; she uses brutal honesty.

“I don't care what he is!”

And it works. The fight leaves Sarah and she walks away. I unload the shotgun and let Dani know it’s okay for her to follow Sarah.

The man looks me up and down and I know that he can see I’m not entirely human, but I speak first.

“So you’re a …?”

“Yes, Cyberdine systems model 101.” He pauses “May I ask what you are?”

I’m a little taken back with formality and manners coming from something that is clearly not human. I haven’t decided if he’s an ally yet.

“No.”

He looks me over again and accepts my answer, leading me inside his home. And then things get surreal in a very domestic way. He goes to the fridge and pulls out a few bottles, snaps them open, then pulls a fresh lime from the fruit bowl on the window ledge and puts it on a chopping board.

“Why’s the girl targeted?” He asks calmly as he slices the lime.

“You don’t’ need to know.” I know I”m being cagey, but I still can’t get a gauge on him. 

“Well, can you at least tell me how you found me?”

I pause before lifting up the edge of my shirt, exposing the coordinates tattooed on my stomach.

“Who gave you that?”

My mind turns to Dani and I remember us together just before the launch, when she tattooed me, and I feel heat snake up my neck. Then, it’s as if I’ve summoned her because no sooner have I thought of her, then she’s walking through the door, she nods at me, and I feel like I’ve been caught thinking something I shouldn’t.

Carl breaks my train of thought when he hands me the bottle. I know it’s a beer because that’s what the label says and I have vague memories of my parents drinking these together, but I’ve never tasted it. I take it from him and hold it awkwardly. _‘What the fuck do I do with the lime?’_

Sarah walks in looking tired. She’s calmer that she had been but still hostile. We find out that Carl has a family who he rescued some twenty-two years ago. He explained that caring for the family gave him purpose, and that he eventually came to understand what he’d taken from Sarah when he killed John.

“Wait. You grew a conscience?” I asked incredulously. Unable to imagine a reality where any of Legions’ terminators have the capacity to do the same.

“The equivalent of one, yes.”

He goes on to describe that since the fall of SkyNet, he has essentially been self-directed. He continued to learn how to become more human, and eventually he developed a method with which to track and measure chronal displacement events and provide Sarah with the information she needed to kill terminators, hoping that it would provide her with purpose. He said that he thought it would give meaning to her sons’ death.

And right then I know he’s said the wrong thing. I can feel the anger start to roll off Sarah in waves.

“You know what would give meaning to his death?” she asks before drawing her weapon.

I see the gun come up and step in front of Dani, just in case. I don’t actually think she’ll miss, but I don’t know this terminator yet and I have no idea how he’ll react.

She places three bullets quickly and neatly where his heart would be if he were human. Thankfully, I needn’t have worried about his reaction as he looks at me dryly.

“This will be very hard to explain to Alicia.” Part of me wants to ask if this day could get any more surreal, but I know the kind of bad luck that could invite, so I keep my mouth shut.

“Do you believe in fate Sarah? Or do you believe that we all can change the future every second by every choice that we make?”

My head comes up as I hear the echo of the Commander’s most repeated words _‘There is no fate but what we make for ourselves’_ And I momentarily wonder if this moment has happened before, if this is when Dani first heard that idea. She obviously got the coordinates from somewhere, so it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that my Dani was here once, in her past.

I look at Dani, and wonder. _Am I witness to my Dani’s past now? Was another version of me here the first time around?_

Time travel theory is never something I could easily wrap my head around. I know I’m currently in the past because I can see it. I also know that from the moment I landed here, every choice I’ve made has created a divergent timeline, different to the one I left. So, anything my Dani experienced in the past, could be repeated or altered by our actions now.

 _‘There is no fate but what we make for ourselves’_ Dani has said those words to me so often that they’ve become somewhat of a mantra to me. It's also the reason that, before i jumped, I didn’t ask her if she’d met me in her past, nor what had become of me. Because it genuinely doesn’t matter.

She lived and became the leader of the Resistance because of a million tiny choices made throughout her past.

In the future, we were on the verge of defeating Legion, we could still be for all I know, but that’s no longer my timeline. I’m here with this Dani, in this moment, and what we chose to do each second will determine whether or not she lives, whether or not she goes on to become the Commander and defeat Legion in this time.

Honestly, my head is spinning a little and I’m grateful for the distraction of Carl's wife and son pulling up. She takes his unexpected guests in her stride, offering us clean clothes and hot showers, which Dani and I gratefully accept.

The last hot shower I had was on base, the day I jumped back, and it had absolutely nothing on this experience. I groan in pleasure as I step under the stream and almost three days-worth of grime and sweat get washed down the drain. My tired aching muscles begin to relax under the warmth of the water, and I take a moment to enjoy the peaceful solitude. This is the first time in two days where my shoulders have felt almost weightless. I know Dani is safe for the moment with Carl and Sarah, and I know we have some time. Carl is virtually off grid, and nobody knows where we went. Even if the Rev could track the chopper, there’s a lot of ground to cover in each direction before it could find this place. It feels good to feel relatively safe for a moment. And I spend some time just appreciating it. A deep fatigue choses that moment to wash over me and I realise that I haven’t slept in almost three days.

As an Augment I can go much longer without rest, but I’ve had two crashes in those three days, so my body has definitely been in better shape. I shake off the fatigue and scrub my face one more time before stepping out of the shower.

 _‘Soon’_ I tell my reflection in the mirror. I’ll get to rest soon.

I think about the last time I was in a bed, which makes me think of the Commander, and I feel a powerful surge of love and loss that almost doubles me over. It was that love that brought me here. I lean against the sink, trembling ever so slightly and, as I right myself, I admit again, that I’ve unexpectedly discovered a quiet kind of love for this Dani. She doesn’t love me like the Commander did, and that’s actually as it should be, but I know she cares, and that’s more than enough for me right now..

I can’t remember what brought on such melancholy, but I blow out a breath and put the fresh clothes on. I feel much more myself now, and I’m ready to begin the next stage of our planning.

***

We all gather on the chairs on Carl’s front porch, and again I have a sense of how absurd this is. A hybrid super-soldier from the future, a terminator from an alternate timeline, a terminator hunter, and the future leader of the Resistance army, all gathered together in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, about to forge plans to save the world. _‘God help us’_

Alicia brings us more beers and I still don’t know what to do with the fucking lime, but I accept the hospitality nonetheless.

Watching Carl interact with his wife and son, I suddenly have a realisation.

“They don’t know.” it’s a statement more than a question, and he confirms that his family is naive to who and what he really is.

Then Dani gets down to business and I feel a familiar sense of ease watching her lean in and take charge of the conversation.

“Okay. How do we stop this thing?” She asks Carl directly, but Sarah answers.

“We chose our weapons and our ground.”

I silently agree.

“We set up a kill box.”

Again, I silently agree.

“And then we use Dani to bring it to us.”

“What?” To this, I definitely do not agree!

“And then we take it down.”

“No. No way.” I shake my head emphatically. “Dani is not bait.” I can feel my chest tighten and my pulse quicken as Carl voices his agreement with her plan.

“Well, I’m not about to steak her out like some goat for you!” I bite back.

“What’s your plan?” she asks snidely “More running?”

“My plan is to hide her at the bottom of a mineshaft if I have to. At least until …”

“Just stop it!” Dani yells at us. And I feel like a chastised child instead of a grown ass soldier.

“I’m not hiding at the bottom of a mineshaft.” she glares at me “I’m not going to live in fear the rest of my life.” She turns and points an angry finger at Sarah “Even if your plan means that might not be long.”

My guts clench at the words and breathing suddenly gets a little harder. I can’t even bring myself to entertain the possibility of her dying. 

“I want to stand and fight.” I watch the anger and determination on her face, and I know I’ve lost. I know that look all too well. 

“So we chose our weapons, and our ground, we’re going to set up a kill box.”

And she looks directly at me again and her dark eyes burn into mine.

“And we’re gonna use me as bait.”

That familiar sense of ease I had a moment ago has turned into a familiar sense of impotent frustration. I can feel the hot sting of tears behind my eyes from both the idea of intentionally putting Dani in danger, and because of the fire she’s directing at me. I bow my head and try to settle myself with her decision.

“And then we kill that thing.”

She looks at Carl.

“Okay?”

“This plan has a high probability of success.” he deadpans back.

I can feel her level her gaze at me again. She doesn’t need my approval, but I can tell she wants it. So, I lift my head and look her in the eyes. I nod and answer quietly. I’m not eager to put her in danger, but I will follow the plan.

“Okay” I hold her gaze, letting her see what she means to me. Letting her see that I will do it, but only because she wants this.

Her eyes are still fiery and I know it’s cliché, but she really is beautiful when she’s angry.

Everything that I love about the Commander is still here in this woman in front of me. Everything, I remind myself, except her love for me. And that’s enough to make me push down my feelings. I let a momentary surge of frustration and anger flare at the word _‘feelings’_. I’m not here to entertain my fucking feelings. I’m here to protect Dani. I feel something solidify inside of me and I know that I can do this. I turn to Carl.

“More weapons.” I see the glint in his eyes, and I feel a flicker of excitement in turn.

***

Okay, I’m not going to lie. Walking into Carl's armoury kind of turned me on. 

The guns might have been considered obsolete where I’m from, but they were pristine works of art. The smell of gun oil, the black metal, the boxes of gunpowder and casings. I was a kid in a very deadly candy store.

His firing range had me impressed as well. Sarah, not so much.

I pick out a Glock handgun for Dani’s first attempt. It’s light, it’s easy to use, and it’s not overly intimidating.

“Go. Rapid fire.” I command. And she fires. Not bad for a first try. I step toward her and place my hands on her shoulders.

“You’re anticipating the recoil.” I point to her feet “Put your weight forward.”

“Arms up.” I bring my arms around her and brace hers. Her back presses into me, the back of her thighs lean into mine, and I feel her take a quick breath and I do too before backing away. My body is suddenly very awake and very warm, but I return my focus to my task. 

“Don’t lock out your elbows.” I finish and fold my arms across my chest, keeping myself from touching her again.

And then Sarah interjects with a bigger gun. Because, that’s what Sarah does.

“Enough of this bullshit. Let’s get serious.” She quips and retrieves the DP-12 double barrel shotgun from the table. She places the hefty ten-pound weapon almost roughly into Dani’s arms and I can see that she can barely reach the pump handle.

Sarah pulls back Dani’s ear protection and whispers into her ear.

“A terminator has just killed your whole family. What do you do?”

I watch in awe as Dani’s face becomes hard and angry. She picks up the weapon, aims, and fires off both barrels. Destroying the two targets. Watching her transform like that is not only impressive, but it helps allay some of my fear. In that moment she is every bit the Commander and I can feel my blood begin to heat.

I have to give Sarah credit. She didn’t give Dani the option for an easier weapon. She picked the biggest and forced her to use it. Everything from then on would be relatively easy for her. I smile a knowing smile, because weapons really did seem easy for the Commander in my timeline.

I take the weapon from Dani.

“You know these guns won’t kill it; they’ll only slow him down” I say to Carl before catching the unintended double meaning as I forcefully discharge the empty casings. I can see Dani’s gaze linger on my arms as I manipulate the weapon, and I feel an unfamiliar pride in my physicality snake through me.

I often forget about my physical presence until I’m reminded of it, in various ways, by the Commander. And this moment is no different, except that she’s not the Commander.

As a kid, I was tall for my age, and I was fast and strong by necessity as a teenager. But it wasn’t until I became an Augment that I really noticed how my body caught some people’s attention. Honestly, I was only ever interested in catching a certain Commanders’ attention with my well-developed ‘guns’, but right now I am beyond pleased to discover that this Dani has noticed them as well. I allow myself a moment of pride, and smirk internally as we walk back to the weapons table, but the moment is over quickly as Carl starts talking about military grade energy weapons.

“An EMP?” I clarify, not sure why it hadn’t occurred to me before. And suddenly I remember that my thorium micro-reactor is essentially an EMP as well.

“What is that?” Dani asks

“An electro-magnetic pulse.” I explain, a little distracted by my inner musings “If we had one close range, it would fry a Rev-9.” I think about how the Resistance could have destroyed the Rev’s so much more efficiently if we had incorporated EMP technology into our rifles.

And just like that, another part of our plan falls into place. By the afternoon, we’re loading up Carl’s van and headed to an empty warehouse near the Bingham Air Force base. 

***


	5. Chapter 5

Listening to a 400-pound terminator talk earnestly about drape patterns, while parked in a dark warehouse, on the verge of committing treason, in an attempt to save the world, has got to be one of the most bizarre experiences I’ve ever found myself in. And I know that if I’m having trouble processing the situation we find ourselves in, Sarah must be trippin.

“You okay?” I lean over and ask her quietly as Carl drones on about polka dots and balloons.

“Fine.” She replies back between clenched teeth, and I smother a smile.

Major Dean arrives and hands Sarah the EMP’s tucked inside a shielded protective case.

My stomach turns at the sight of the case. Knowing that if one were to go off too close to either myself or Carl, it would shut down our electronics and likely kill us. But it’s also our best chance at destroying the Rev. Obviously we’ll need to figure out a plan on how to discharge them in close proximity to the Rev while keeping them far enough from us. But first things first.

As they finish up, I hear the hum of an oncoming chopper and again the hairs on the back of my neck start to raise.

“Major. What kind of helos fly out of Bingham?”

I can tell that it’s definitely not a Black Hawk or Chinook, but something smaller. Carl can hear it now too, and we know it’s time to go. He’s found us. 

We throw ourselves back into the van and manage to make it out of the warehouse carrying an injured Major Dean. I almost take out the helo and the metal rev with my grenade launcher, but it only serves to buy us time.

“He’ll be on us again in a minute!”

Major Dean calls ahead to the base and warns them of our arrival, and thankfully, when we get to the entrance, they let us pass without incident. I manoeuvre the van around the grounded aircraft and Carl spots one he likes.

“The C5. Can you fly that?” He asks, and I give him a slightly indignant look.

“Of course.” and I aim the nose of the van at the ramp, and thankfully we cause minimal damage when we come to a stop inside the cargo bay.

It’s less than a minute before I’m in the cockpit starting the engines. I wanted Dani in here with me, but she has decided to stay and help Carl and Sarah get our supplies squared away. The engines are still coming to life, but I don’t wait, I slide open the throttle and take control of the yoke, guiding the giant craft onto the runway.

My hearing picks Carl up from the cargo bay.

“We’ve been reacquired.”

But as much as I want to, I can’t leave to help, I need to get this plane in the air. I can hear gunfire and I pray that Carl and Sarah are keeping Dani safe.

The plane lifts off, but the cargo bay door is causing a lot of drag, and I have to wrestle with the controls to convince it to keep climbing. We’re in the air, but I can still hear gunfire, which means the Rev has made its way into the plane. _‘Fuck!’_ I’m still not high enough to turn on the autopilot, but then the gunfire stops and within a minute Dani is entering the cockpit.

I let out a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding, and my heart feels like it’s settling back inside my chest again.

We sit quietly for a few minutes until I get the plane on course and set the cruise control. The Air Force Viper escort arrives and they flank us while announcing their presence.

“Hopefully they won’t shoot us down.” I quip.

“Where are we going?”

“Figuring that out next.” I reach up and pull myself upright “But, those Humvees are rigged for parachute landings so we can punch out then find some remote spot to use the EMP.”

I almost stop mid-sentence when I notice the way Dani is looking at me. I have a totally involuntary reaction, and I’m a little mortified by it, but I feel the instant tug of desire low in my belly. She’s looking at me the exact same way the Commander does when she wants me.

With the energy of the recent escape still strong in the air, and seeing her in a tactical vest, I almost forget that she isn’t the Commander. My fingers ache to reach out and touch her face, to capture her lips with mine.

But then Carl walks in and the moment is gone.

“We have a problem.”

I take one look at the case _‘No fuck we have a problem’._ Carl says that our chances of success without the EMP’s are around 12% and I dump myself back into the pilot's seat, dejected.

“That’s not zero,” Dani says with a smile and we all look at her like she’s grown a second head.

“It’s not much better,” I reply.

Dani isn’t going to accept that. I can see it clear in her eyes. “Then we have to find some more weapons and we stick to the plan. We set the trap and …”

“No … Dani you can’t do that.” I shake my head.

“Why?” it’s a simple question, but I don’t have an answer. “Because my son is supposed to save us all? And until then what? We just keep watching people die?” she’s becoming indignant again and my chest starts to tighten. I know this Dani.

“The future of the human race depends on you making it ….” I try to counter but she cuts me off.

“I don’t give a shit about the future, or what I’m maybe supposed to do someday. What matters are the choices we make now.” That fire is back in her eyes and the look on her face is unmistakable.

I blow out a breath and shake my head _‘I’ve seen that look too many times before’_

Fuck. I didn’t mean to say it out loud, but it’s too late. She stops and frowns, and I am completely caught out.

“You know me?” It’s a question, a realisation, and a statement all rolled into one.

I look up at her and feel ill, I want her to stop, but she doesn’t. I can tell it’s just dawned on Sarah as well, and I feel utterly exposed.

“In the future?”

And it’s over. I can’t keep it from her anymore. I won’t. I need her to know at least in part, who she is to me, so I nod.

“Yeah.” I capture her gaze and I hope my meaning is understood when the next words leave my mouth. “I _know_ you.”

The way she looks at me then is slightly different and I know she heard it. There’s an understanding in her eyes, she looks winded and off-kilter. So I push forward.

“It was you who found me in the ruins after Judgement Day. You saved me”

My mind’s eye goes back to that day as I recount the story. I thought I was going to die, but then she arrived and saved me. God she could fight. And eventually she convinced my very bruised and battered attackers that Legion could be defeated if we fought the machines together instead of trying to destroy each other. She said that humans created it, so humans could destroy it.

She comes over to me and takes a knee, but I’m too overwhelmed to look her in the eyes.

“What’s your name?” Her tone is kind and friendly.

“Grace.” I reply, barely a whisper.

And I see a look I don’t understand cross her face. First shock, and she looks deep into my eyes, trying to find something, she pulls my hood down from my head and her look turns to wonder, as though she found it. And then a sad kind of happiness crosses her face, as she nods to herself.

“Grace.” She says my name like I’m an old friend, and I am in awe of her.

“I’m Daniella,” but she quickly corrects herself, “Dani” with a smile, and I know that she doesn’t let everyone call her Dani so I smile back.

My mind comes back to the cockpit of the C5 and it’s then that I realise why the Dani of my past had that look on her face. She HAD known me, or a version of me, in her past. I swallow hard against the lump in my throat.

“You saved me, and you taught me to hope. Just like you saved and taught the others. You turned scavengers into militias, and militias into an army. We rose up out of the ashes, and we took our world back.”

She’s sitting now and she looks shaken. I know I’ve probably told her too much, but it feels right. So I slide off my seat and onto my knee, just like she had done in front of me all those years ago, just like I did in front of my Commander three days ago. I look deep into her eyes and try to convey the debt that my world owes her.

“You taught us … there is no fate but what we make for ourselves.”

She can’t hold my gaze anymore and she looks away, almost as though she doesn’t quite believe me. So I lean closer and try again.

“Dani. You are not the mother of some man who saves the future,” her eyes return to mine and they are glassy, so I make sure she feels what I feel when I say my next words.

“You are the future. That’s why Legion wants you dead.”

We share that moment for a few seconds, and it’s enough for me to see that she has heard me. Not only that, but I can see that something else has shifted for her, like she’s not shuttering herself anymore and she’s letting me see inside her.

All too soon the quiet is broken by Sarah, but I can’t begrudge her this moment, because she’s realised that Dani and John carry the same spirit. Dani is John in a way. And the knowledge seems to bring her some comfort.

I look back at Dani and feel like I need to explain something else.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you this before, but you told me that the Dani I’d meet in the past couldn’t handle it.” I shake my head, “but you’re not that Dani anymore.” And she really isn’t. Somehow, over the last two days, she’s become a much clearer reflection of the Commander I know.

A voice comes over the radio and breaks the moment. I don’t even need to hear what he’s saying. I know it’s him.

“It’s him. We gotta go now!” I pass Dani to Sarah “Strap into the Humvee!” I push the throttle open again and feel the plane surge forward. I take hold of the yoke and make the plane dive away from the oncoming re-fueling craft and I curse myself for not keeping an eye on the RADAR.

We’re too slow. The tanker hits our craft and the impact almost rips the controls from my grasp. 

As the plane starts to buck and drop, I recall some of my Augment training. The thing that takes a moment to acclimate to while inside a plummeting plane, besides the obvious, is just how seemingly fluid gravity can be.

Whether it’s the nose of the craft, the roof, the floor, or the tail, if it’s pointed towards the earth, that’s the direction of gravity. The problem is that, when a plane is falling out of control, all of those directions tumble one after the other, so that your perception of ‘down’ is always changing.

The other glaring exception to the rule of gravity during an uncontrolled descent is that every time there’s a rapid shift in entropy, gravity ceases to exist, and you suddenly become weightless.

With each lurch, explosion, or bump, there’s a corresponding, temporary loss of gravity which when added to the forever shifting perception of ‘down’, can become completely disorientating.

When Dani calls out my name and I put the plane into autopilot, I know the engine will try for as long as it is able to, to keep its nose up and keep us level. Currently the weight of the impact has tipped the tail down, so getting to the cargo bay is easy and I let gravity do most of the work.

I exit the cockpit and let myself hang by the access rail as I calculate how I need to ‘fall’ in order to get closer to her. There’s a gaping hole in the side of the cargo bay, and if she happens to slide a little further down she could get sucked out. I let go and almost glide straight onto the stack of supplies. My body hits hard and I grab the netting and hold on, but then the engines on the right wing explode and gravity temporarily disappears as the plane kicks upward.

Dani is jolted loose and she drifts just out of my reach, so I have to let go of the netting and use the lack of gravity to float up and grab onto her. As absurd is it seems, I find myself enjoying the sensation of her completely wrapped up against me. We’re spinning, weightless, inside a plummeting C5, but as our bodies connect, there’s a moment where everything feels exactly right.

But then we keep spinning, closer and closer to the opening. I may be heavy, but my body weight isn’t enough to slow us, or to pull us back down, but thankfully Carl grabs us both and has us safety pinned against the starboard wall in no time.

I can see the Rev-9 clawing its way through the opening and I feel my anger come to life at the sight of him. I pass Dani, almost roughly, to Carl as the Rev drops through the opening and falls toward us. His speared arm gouges into the metal next to my head and I kick him in his. And then he and Carl are fighting on the roof, then back on the floor, as the plane does a full roll and continues to plummet.

While Carl has the Rev occupied, I somehow manage to get Dani into the Humvee, but Sarah hasn’t been able to open the cargo bay door for me to push the vehicle out.

Just as I get Dani inside the vehicle the landing gear explodes, and the kick of the explosion throws me painfully over the Humvee and into the wall. The direction of gravity changes again, and we all start to slide back toward the cargo bay doors.

I’m disoriented and dizzy and I feel another crash starting, but when I look up, I see the Rev on the Humvee, being held back by Carl, his speared arm pointed menacingly at Dani through the windshield. And I let the animal out again. I use all fours to make my way across the vehicle and I feel like I almost rip his head off as I use my full body weight to peel him away from the car. Carl joins in the tumble and I push away from them, trying to get back to Dani. I see Carl pin the Rev and then take aim at the cargo bay doors with a grenade launcher. The grenades fly past me, over Sarah, and across the cargo bay before they hit their mark.

Sarah and I cut the Humvee free, and thankfully gravity is on our side and I’m able to push it out the opening which is conveniently pointed towards Earth at the moment.

Just before we get to the opening, I feel the heat of another blast at my back, but I don’t have time to look back because less than a second later, the entire rig is tipping out of the plane.

***


	6. Chapter 6

We’re falling too low for the inbuilt altimeter to register our altitude and deploy the parachutes automatically, so I perform some aerial acrobatics and manually pull open the front chute. It doesn’t open completely so I have to swing to the back of the vehicle and open the second one. This one takes, and the jarring loss of momentum almost sends me over the edge of the rig. Almost.

The cool wind whipping around me feels good against my heated skin, and I curse my thoughtlessness when I remember where I left my last injection. This crash is going to happen soon, and when it does there won’t be any stopping it. I have maybe another thirty or forty minutes before it takes me under for good, but I can try to prolong that, so I let the wind continue to cool me, and I take a moment to try and relax my muscles and calm my breathing as my body hangs easily from the base of the rig.

I wait for the wreckage of the plane to pass us mid-air before I make my way inside the Humvee and I’m greeted by a very relieved Dani. But I don’t have time to reciprocate. We’re falling too fast and I have just enough time to get Sarah and Dani to brace before we’re hitting concrete and sliding close to the edge of the dam we somehow, miraculously, managed to land on.

“Dani get out!” I can feel the vehicle becoming unbalanced. She pushes open the door but it wont move properly.

“It’s blocked!”

And then we all feel it start to tip and we brace again through the terrifying drop. Once the vehicle settles, I begin to take inventory. We are dangling over the edge of the dam, inside the Humvee, surrounded by a torrent of water, and somehow, we are okay except for Sarah who has a dislocated shoulder. I relocate it for her before she has time to protest. Two days ago, that move would have brought a smile to my face, but now, I’m genuinely sorry that she’s in so much discomfort. But I don’t have time to stabilise her shoulder because he’s closing in on us again and we can’t stay where we are. We’re sitting ducks.

Climbing onto the front grill of the Humvee is harder that I thought. The speed of the water flowing over the dam and past the vehicle is fierce, and the suction that the wind creates around us almost unroots me more than once. But I get in position before he arrives, and I have just enough time to remind Dani to strap in again before he emerges above us, and just like before, I feel my anger build at the sight of him, and I let it out.

I don’t really know how I can stop him, but I know I can at least slow him down and put distance between Dani and him. Especially with the help of the current around us. I know I don’t actually stand a chance against the Rev-9 with only a knife in my hand, but I have to try. I want to look back at Dani one last time because I don’t see how I’ll survive this, but the Rev tips himself over the ledge and I have precisely just enough time to slice through the parachute straps with a rage filled yell.

It feels like I catapult toward him, but in reality, he speeds down toward me, and the Humvee is pulled rapidly away from us both, so I actually don’t move that much at all before his metallic body slams into mine.

Our combined weight submerges us instantly, and we tumble violently with the current. I feel the rocky ground against my back, and I feel more than one submerged piece of driftwood scrape against my arms and legs. We’re spinning so fast that I can’t figure out which way is up, let alone figure out a way to hold him to me for longer. I manage a few satisfying punches, and I block more than one attempt at his speared arm, but after what was likely only a few seconds we slam into a submerged boulder and the impact breaks my grip. The current pulls him away from me before I can give chase and, after a brief but unsuccessful attempt to track him in the murky water, my burning lungs demand that I return to the surface.

I cling to a branch, pulling air into my overworked and tired lungs. After a minute or two, my retinal display locates Dani and Sarah surfacing not far from me. They’ve made it to the bank, and I can’t see the Rev anywhere in my range of sight. I pull myself toward Dani, but the swim takes more out of me that I thought.

Getting my weight through the water is difficult at the best of times, but when my arms and my legs have started to lose coordination, and when my lungs desperately want more oxygen than I can give them, it feels almost impossible. I sink under the surface more than once, but the closer I get to Dani, the more I pull the energy from somewhere.

The last few strokes seem almost easy, and before I know it, I hear her call my name and she’s back in the water and has me wrapped up in a crushing embrace. Or maybe I have her wrapped in one. It’s hard to tell. My weary body instantly recognises hers and it relaxes because it knows it’s home. But, beyond how good she feels in my arms, I also want to hold her close to warm her up. She’s freezing!

But we just don’t have time. My gut knows that the Rev is somewhere close, making his way back to us, and the last thing I want is for us to be out here in the open when that happens.

I get her onto the bank, and pull myself onto my hands and knees. Then I try to stand up to start climbing the steep bank, and that’s when I know I’m in trouble. My legs won’t push my body upright, and my arms won’t grasp to find purchase. Sarah sees me falter and asks if I’m going to be able to make it, and I don’t have the energy to hide it.

“I don’t know.” I manage to breathe out.

She puts her good arm around my waist, and despite the momentary discomfort I feel over having an injured woman twice my age assist me, I manage to accept the help, and keep my feet moving. By the time we get halfway up, Dani has come back to take my other side, and together they get me to the top.

I’m supposed to be protecting Dani, not the other way around, and I recognise how absurd it is that these two women are helping the augmented super-soldier to stay on her feet, but I can’t muster the energy to comment on it.

I’m practically gasping for air by the time we get to the small exit door. I can barely stand, in fact, I don’t even think I’m holding myself up. Dani and Sarah are. My skin is burning up, and my retinal display is telling me that I need to administer my meds immediately.

I sigh, knowing that in the next minute or two my body will begin to shut down, and I’ll be useless to protect Dani. But until then I’m going to do what I can.

Sarah tries to open the door, but it’s locked, so I move in front of her and try. I’m still stronger than a normal human, even while I’m crashing, but I strain against the handle with almost everything I have and it still won’t budge. I yell in frustration and push myself against the unyielding metal and I feel Dani put her hand on my back, offering me some support. And then she’s trying to hold me up when my body collapses against the strain I’ve just put it under. They get back on either side of me and try to help me find another door, but when one doesn’t emerge around the corner, my legs finally give way and I take them both down with me.

I can feel the start of panic taking hold and I know that I’m close. Nothing is making sense to my overheated and near delusional brain anymore. Stars start to appear in my vision and my ears begin to ring, my body is burning up, crying out for oxygen, but my lungs have become almost immobile in my chest, and I can only gasp painfully as my diaphragm turns to rock and fights me on every breath.

But I need to stay awake for a little longer, I can’t leave Dani in danger like this. 

“Dani.” I gasp, my eyes wide with fear for her. “You have to run.” I can only get a few words out before I have to stop and pull more oxygen in. “You have to run. We can’t protect you.”

“What?” She crouches close to me and shakes her head “I’m the only one of us who can still throw a punch.” She says as though it makes sense that she remains and fights. But I am lucid enough to know that while she might be the only one of us physically capable of fighting, she still can’t fight a Rev-9 by herself.

Suddenly, a thought occurs to me, and it’s not even a question.

I direct my information to Sarah, knowing that she’ll see the reason in it. Dani might fight her, but Sarah will make sure it happens. The part of me that is the same as her knows she’ll do it because her mission is the same as mine; keep Dani safe.

“There’s another weapon.” I almost stutter. It’s getting harder to form words.

“What?” Sarah asks, and I know by her tone that she’ll do whatever she needs to do to get this weapon, and I’m counting on it.

“My power source.” I say as clearly as I can. My chest heaving. I can see her processing my answer and then she asks the only logical question.

“How do we get it out of you, without killing you?”

I can’t hold my head up anymore, and I can barely draw another breath in. But I manage to shake my head weakly.

“You can’t.” It comes out as a breath more than actual words.

“NO!” The ferocity in Dani’s voice startles me a little but I simply don’t have the energy left to argue with her. I look at Sarah one last time and I see it in her eyes, I know without a doubt that she will do it once my body gives out, which won’t be long.

Dani reaches down and grasps my hand. It feels small and cool in mine, and it’s comforting. I can see that she is afraid and she doesn’t know what to do for me. Frankly, there is nothing left for her to do for me. I take another stuttered half breath and I hope that it’s my last. The sooner I shut down, the sooner Dani stands a chance. I close my eyes and wait.

Suddenly the grating sound of metal scraping against concrete reaches us from above. My heart sinks because I know it’s him. He’s found us again. Dani stands up but keeps a hold of my hand. And I see Sarah reach for her knife and I am once again grateful for her single-mindedness. I know she’s about to use it on me, and I welcome it. I just hope she does it while Dani has her back turned. We catch each other’s eyes and I give her an almost imperceptible nod, telling her that it’s okay. 

The screeching gets closer to us, sliding down the cement wall, until he’s on the floor with us. And all the tension suddenly leaves my body.

It’s Carl!

Relife floods me and I know that Dani stands a much better chance with the terminator here to help.

I lean back against the wall and wait for the blackness. It’s seconds away, I can feel it. Dani is still holding my hand and I’m glad that this will be the last thing I feel.

Carl makes his way toward us, and he looks straight at me. I return his gaze, but it’s hard to focus on his face with parts of his metal skeleton exposed, and one of his eyes gouged out, revealing the machine underneath it. I guess it would probably be horrifying under normal circumstances. But these aren’t normal circumstances.

“You look terrible.” He says as though it’s news to me.

“At least I still have all my face.” I say in turn. And I’m actually amazed I can.

“You left this on the plane.” He pulls out a familiar syringe and hands it to me. And I can’t believe it. I barely have the strength left to take the needle from him.

“I can’t get through that door.” I pant and turn my head toward it. Carl slams his knee back into place and moves to the door, opening it with little effort.

I use what little strength I have left to press the tip of the needle to my thigh but my hand is shaking so much that the tip bounces off my skin twice before I manage to get it to sink in. The relief is almost immediate. The anticonvulsants and the benzodiazepine immediately relax my seizing muscles and allow me to breath again. It will take longer for the rest of the drugs to do their work, but I can now breathe, and I can move a little easier.

I reach out to Dani again, and she’s quick to help me back to my feet. A wave of dizziness washes over me and she ducks under my arm and supports my unsteady body as my strength slowly returns.

Together the four of us make our way through the halls that lead to the turbine room of the dam. Each step gets easier for me, and within a few minutes I can walk unassisted. By the time we enter the turbine room, I feel fully recovered. Well, as recovered as I can be. That was my third crash in as many days, and with no sleep, and very little food, I know my tank is almost empty.

I pick up the Rev’s footsteps in the distance, somewhere behind us, and I turn to look down the hall. Expecting him to round the corner.

“We have to move, he’s not far behind.” I warn them.

“No.” Dani answers back swiftly. “We make our stand here,” she pauses, and I see the Commander, “this is our kill box.”

I have full confidence in her, yet I think sardonically to myself _‘should be easy enough’_ as I try to locate a weapon. My retinal display identifies a length of chain with a sharp, weighted, hook at the end. I grab it and wrap one end into a gauntlet around my forearm, leaving one end loose to swing.

I feel him before I see him, and quickly but forcefully guide Dani behind me. He’s on the platform above us and he looks chillingly unhurried. I shift my weight and calm myself, letting my almost ever-present anger toward him build quietly.

“I’m not running!” Dani yells at him defiantly

I don’t really know why he even tries to reason with us. Between the four of us, we’ve traversed two timelines, two countries, and spent three days running in order to keep her safe, so it should be abundantly clear we intend to fight to the death if necessary. But he has no way to comprehend human logic, which Sarah surmises so perfectly.

“We’re not machines you metal motherfucker.”

And just like that, the battle begins. Carl can take the brunt of the Rev’s attacks because, quite simply, his body is designed to. I can throw him off balance and slow him down. And hopefully, between us we’ll find a weakness we can exploit. But all too soon, he’s thrown Carl aside, and it’s just Sarah and I in his way. I spin the end of the chain around my other forearm and hope that I can deflect his attacks long enough for Carl to get back in the game.

I just don’t expect to be pushed back so quickly. Each blow sends a shock through my arms powerful enough to tip me off balance. I’m an exceptionally strong and effective soldier, but the fact of the matter is that he’s stronger than me, and his blows are brutally precise. I’m much more well equipped to protect Dani from the Rev than an ordinary human, but he’s clearly got an edge on me. 

It doesn't take long at all. He creates an opening on his sixth swing and uses it to end our duel. I suppose I should feel some measure of pride that I lasted six blows, face to face with a Rev-9, but I don’t.

I feel the metal spear slice through my body like a hot blade through butter. It feels like fire and ice simultaneously, and I let out a shocked gasp. My breath freezes in my chest and I can’t move. The Rev shoulders my weight for a moment.

“Grace!” Dani almost screams.

I feel her move from behind me, trying to attract his attention, and it works.

“Hey! Hey! I’m over here!” Dani calls him and he comes.

He pushes me back, retracting the spear from my body, and I gasp and fall back to the floor. His focus is now on Dani and he moves away from me without a second glance. 

My retinal display is sending me all sorts of warnings which I’m in far too much pain to interpret. Blood loss signalled by a drop in my blood pressure, a spike in adrenaline, a punctured spleen, and declining oxygen saturation. I know my augments are trying desperately to repair my body, I just don’t know if they can this time.

As I lay on the floor trying to fill my lungs and make my body move again, I turn my focus back to the sounds around me. Dani called the Rev’s attention which means she just put herself in danger again. I realise that she has probably just saved my life, but in doing so, she’s put herself directly in his sights. I need to get up. Now.

Five gunshots ring out and I know without looking, that Sarah is in the mix and I have just managed to push myself into a crouch when Sarah is thrown in my direction. The Rev has split in two and Carl is wailing on the metal half. I feel a moment of hope because I know that the Rev is less powerful when it’s in its two forms; maybe we can take them separately. I lift myself up and start spinning the chain again, ready to face off with the liquid half.

My augments are trying to shunt my blood flow away from the puncture wound. They’ve diverted my energy to my upper body. And while I know I’m gravely injured, my body is doing what it was built for. To endure what an ordinary human can’t. I feel my strength return and I advance on him, letting my anger focus my energy. 

And just as his speared arm sliced through my body, so too does my chain through his. I carve him into four slices and take immense pleasure in each powerful whip of my arm. He’s a collection of body parts in the form of alloy lumps on the ground once I’m done.

My legs give out slightly on my last stroke, and my retinal display is warning me again of the blood loss. There’s a dripping sound and I look down, I press down on my vest, into the wound beneath it, and blood oozes out past my fingers and onto the floor. We need to finish this quickly.

To my disappointment, the liquid alloy segments begin to melt and join together again, and I hear the metal half on the walkway above me begin to right itself.

We have no choice but to regroup and wait, and soon enough, they’re both charging toward us, combining fluidly back into one terminator just before they reach us.

First Carl, then me, then Sarah strike at him. We slow him down and change his course a little, but he keeps directing himself straight at Dani. I get the chain around his body, trapping his left arm against himself, and I pull back. This is the first time we’ve had him relatively contained and I feel a surge of hope again.

He almost reaches Dani with his speared arm, but Sarah blows the tip of it off with a perfect shot.

I wind back the chain in my hands, drawing him closer to me and away from Dani. Carl soon joins in and tackles him, throwing him against the housing of the turbine. And it’s then we both realise that if we can get him into the rapidly spinning machine, we might be able to destroy him. The electrical charge being generated inside it might combine with the electromagnetics of the spinning metal to take the Rev apart.

Carl pushes him against the exposed blades and I quickly use my body against him to push his head closer, and there’s a moment of satisfaction as his head touches the spinning metal, and sparks fly.

He’s trying to wrestle his body free, sending spears out from his fists and his shoulders in an attempt to dislodge us. Carl can absorb the damage of any that reach him, but I have to split my focus between keeping him against the turbine, and keeping my body clear of the deadly projectiles.

But eventually he gets me. It’s fast and sharp and it strikes my arm which has his head pinned. The pain automatically makes me let go and fall back for a moment, but I return quickly, wrapping my chain around his head, making sure that my body is out of reach of his spears this time.

And Carl and I work together again, dragging him closer to the blades. Me pulling and Carl pushing. In this moment I truly understand just how strong a Rev-9 actually is. More powerful than either of us alone, and possibly almost as strong as both of us together. His feet start sliding, inch by inch.

I’ve never used my body to this extreme before, and I feel every muscle in my arms, my shoulders, and my back pull and strain under the pressure I’m putting them under. 

My strength comes from the implants in my body and the power source that runs them. Metal bones and actuators provide me with superhuman strength, but I still rely on my very human anatomy to carry the demands of these components. It’s a delicate balance to keep, and not one I tend to pay much attention to in the heat of the moment.

However, I can tell that my muscles are nearly at their limit, but I have to keep pulling. And sure enough, little by little he comes within reach of our goal. There’s a hint of desperation in his struggle to get free now. And I don’t’ believe it’s because he fears for his life. I think it’s because he doesn’t know how to not complete a mission.

He looks at Dani with pure hatred and it makes my chest tighten. He will destroy her if he breaks free and I know I cannot let that happen. So, I plant myself and I pull back on the chain with everything I have. I use my foot against his back as leverage and redirect my power to my arms. It’s too much for the human parts of my body and I can feel my muscle and skin start to tear. But I keep pulling until we are both screaming. And finally, the chain breaks through and his head snaps back.

Carl launches at the weakened Rev and tackles him into the turbine, but in doing so he feeds his own arm into it. I don’t even stop to think, I grab onto him and try to pull him out, but the force of the turbine pulling against us is just too strong and I can’t get him free.

The smell of hot metal starts to seep through the turbine. Sparks are flying everywhere. And there’s an escalating sound from within the engine that tells me it’s going to blow a few seconds before it actually does.

The force of the explosion sends my body hurtling into the air before it slams into a cement pillar. I have a sense of the impact; I feel bones and organs give under the pressure, but it happens so quickly I can’t process it. I feel pain everywhere, but I’m slightly detached from it and I think that this is shock. All I can hear is the ringing in my ears, and I’m so dazed I can barely see anything. My retinal display is sending me information, I read it but I can’t wrap my head around any of it, so I switch it off.

“Grace! Grace. Are you okay?”

Dani is by my side now but I can’t respond in any meaningful way. She touches me and it helps me come back to my body, but then I feel more pain, and I wish I could go back to where I was. I can only groan in response, so she moves around my body and crouches beside me. Taking pieces of rubble off me so she can see better. She undoes my vest and pulls it back and that’s when the pain surges inside of me and everything snaps into some kind of focus.

The look on her face lets me know that what my retinal display was trying to tell me is correct. _‘Massive internal damage. Irreparable loss of motor functions. Life threatening blood loss. Hypovolemic shock and heart failure imminent.’_

She looks at my torso and I can see the horror and the grief on her face. I want to comfort her, but she’s the one who reaches down and cups my cheek, and I feel safe. Everything slows down and becomes peaceful for a moment so I grasp her forearm and pull her closer. I know I don't have long, and I don’t want to leave without saying it. I need to tell her before I go.

“Te quiero.”

It’s barely a whisper, but I know she hears it. She swallows, not knowing what to say. But I don’t need her to say anything.

“Sarah!” She calls out, desperate to get me help.

And then my heart sinks.

“It’s not dead.” Sarah calls back.

Dani grasps my shoulders and becomes even more desperate.

“We’ve gotta take you out of here.”

But I know I’m not going anywhere. My fight is almost over. There’s just one last thing I need to give her, so I look around and see a shard of metal laying close by and I reach for it.

“Grace, let's go.” Dani pleads.

It takes all my concentration to grab hold of the piece of metal and bring it to my stomach. Holding Danis hand closely around it.

“My powersource,” I gasp, “get it close and it’ll fry his neural net.”

“Grace.” She looks devastated and shakes her head, “I can’t.’”

I know I don’t have the strength to do it myself, so she has to.

“Yes,” I breathe hard, “you can.” I wish I could do it myself, but I can’t.

What’s left of the Rev jumps out of the burning turbine and attacks Sarah. We don't have much time before it’s barely functioning skeleton reaches us so I have to convince Dani to do this.

“Dani. This is what you sent me here to do.”

And I’m not lying. She did send me here to protect her. I have no way of knowing if my Dani knew I would die here. But I have to believe that saving Dani, whatever the cost, is the only way to ensure the human race survives.

“No.” She cries back, tears dropping from her eyes and onto my skin. Her heartbreak is palpable.

“We both knew I wasn’t coming back.” I say evenly. It’s my only way to reassure her. And again it’s true.

“I can’t.”

“You saved me,” I swallow hard, remembering that moment all those years ago in a flash, “let me save you.”

She hesitates, and looks toward the Rev. And I know this is my opening.

“Please. Do it.”

I hold her gaze and convey my sincerity.

“Do it.” I’m not pleading with her anymore. I’m ordering her. And she finally does.

The blade slides into my stomach and the pain takes my breath away. I try to dampen my response, redirecting the neural input while my power source is still working. I don’t want her to see me suffer. Her hand shifts inside of me and I feel her grasp my power source.

“I’m sorry Grace.” She cries.

There’s so much pain in her voice and I want to comfort her. Her tears land on my face and on my body but I can’t reach up to her anymore. 

Dani pulls on my reactor and it clicks out of its cradle. She slides it out of my body, and I feel one last surge of pain before it fades away.

“I’m not.” I breathe with the last breath in me.

And it’s the truth. I’d do it a hundred times over if it meant keeping her safe. I feel her hand against my cheek again. And it’s perfect.

My retinal display flickers, I’m still alive, but barely. The machinery of my body is no longer powered, but the part of me that is human still has a few moments left. All sense of pain leaves my body, sound has become an indistinct echo, and my vision has left me. I know I’ve stopped breathing and I’m momentarily surprised that I’m actually still alive. I know it won’t be for long, but it’s long enough for the last surges of electrical current still in my cells to maintain some sense of awareness.

Laying there in the quiet blackness, I turn inward to my mind’s eye and somehow a memory comes to me as though for the first time.

I’m young, maybe eleven or twelve, playing with my brother in a neighbourhood playground. I can feel the cool chill of autumn, but the sun is still warm, and the air smells sweet. My mother calls me and tells me it’s time to go, so I nod and help my brother pick himself up. As I stand, I see a woman standing at the chain-link fence across from me. I notice her because she’s looking at me with a strange expression on her face. She’s beautiful. She has kind brown eyes, and she’s smiling directly at me. I can’t help but smile back.

_Dani!_

The memory turned realisation should shock me, but it doesn’t. Instead it comforts me.

I hope that Dani goes to find the younger me in this timeline, like she did in mine. I hope she keeps the same watchful eye on her, as she did for me. And I hope she approaches each decision she makes with just enough variation so that when the time comes, the future will be safe, and they will be able to share an even more enduring love than the one we did.

I smile without actually smiling.

Even though I can’t see it, I know the battle is over now. I can feel a powerful electrical discharge in the air, and then there’s an echo of footsteps that reach me, and I know she’s next to me again.

The heartbeat in my ear begins to slow and I feel a deep sense of peace come over me.

This time will be different for her, and for Grace. It has to be, I know it.

This time, I know they will win the battle.

And now I know that I didn’t just come back for Dani, I came back for them both.

Not to give them a second chance at living the same life my Dani and I lived, but a chance at a completely new fate. 

The chance at forging a life in this new world; together. 

***


End file.
